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#i feel bad for not knowing who she is considering that she won 7 grammys
blackkudos · 4 years
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Donna Summer
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LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), widely known by her stage name based on her married name Donna Summer, was an American singer, songwriter and actress. She gained prominence during the disco era of the late 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
While influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and moved to New York City. Joining a touring version of the musical Hair, she left New York and spent several years living, acting and singing in Europe, where she met music producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte in Munich, where they recorded influential disco hits such as "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love", marking her breakthrough into an international career. Summer returned to the United States in 1975, and other hits such as "Last Dance", "MacArthur Park", "Heaven Knows", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", "Dim All the Lights", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (duet with Barbra Streisand) and "On the Radio" followed.
Summer earned a total of 42 hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 in her lifetime, with 14 of those reaching the top-ten. She claimed a top 40 hit every year between 1975 and 1984, and from her first top-ten hit in 1976, to the end of 1982, she had 12 top-ten hits (10 were top-five hits), more than any other act during that time period. She returned to the Hot 100's top-five in 1983, and claimed her final top-ten hit in 1989 with "This Time I Know It's for Real". She was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and charted four number-one singles in the US within a 12-month period. She also charted two number-one singles on the R&B Singles chart in the US and a number-one single in the United Kingdom. Her most recent Hot 100 hit came in 1999 with "I Will Go with You (Con Te Partiro)". While her fortunes on the Hot 100 waned through those decades, Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart over her entire career.
Summer died on May 17, 2012, from lung cancer, at her home in Naples, Florida. She sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She won five Grammy Awards. In her obituary in The Times, she was described as the "undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom" who reached the status of "one of the world's leading female singers." Giorgio Moroder described Summer's work with them on the song "I Feel Love" as "really the start of electronic dance" music. In 2013, Summer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In December 2016, Billboard ranked her at No. 6 on its list of the Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists .
Early life
LaDonna Adrian Gaines was born on December 31, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Andrew and Mary Gaines, and was third of seven children. She was raised in the Boston neighborhood of Mission Hill. Her father was a butcher, and her mother was a schoolteacher.
Summer's performance debut occurred at church when she was ten years old, replacing a vocalist who failed to appear. She attended Boston's Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular. In 1967, just weeks before graduation, Summer left for New York City, where she joined the blues rock band Crow. After a record label passed on signing the group since it was only interested in the band's lead singer, the group agreed to dissolve.
Summer stayed in New York and auditioned for a role in the counterculture musical, Hair. She landed the part of Sheila and agreed to take the role in the Munich production of the show, moving there after getting her parents' reluctant approval. She eventually became fluent in German, singing various songs in that language, and participated in the musicals Ich bin ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell, and Show Boat. Within three years, she moved to Vienna, Austria, and joined the Vienna Volksoper. She briefly toured with an ensemble vocal group called FamilyTree, the creation of producer Günter "Yogi" Lauke.
In 1968, Summer released (as Donna Gaines) on Polydor her first single, a German version of the title "Aquarius" from the musical Hair, followed in 1971 by a second single, a remake of the Jaynetts' 1963 hit, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", from a one-off European deal with Decca Records. In 1969, she issued the single "If You Walkin' Alone" on Philips Records.
She married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973, and gave birth to their daughter (called Mimi) Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer, the same year. She provided backing vocals for producer-keyboardist Veit Marvos on his Ariola Records release Nice to See You, credited as "Gayn Pierre". Several subsequent singles included Donna performing with the group, and the name "Gayn Pierre" was used while performing in Godspell with Helmuth Sommer during 1972.
Music career
1974–1979: Initial success
While working as a model part-time and back up singer in Munich, Summer met German-based producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte during a recording session for Three Dog Night at Musicland Studios. The trio forged a working partnership, and Donna was signed to their Oasis label in 1974. A demo tape of Summer's work with Moroder and Bellotte led to a deal with the European-distributed label Groovy Records. Due to an error on the record cover, Donna Sommer became Donna Summer; the name stuck. Summer's first album was Lady of the Night. It became a hit in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Belgium on the strength of two songs, "The Hostage" and the title track "Lady of the Night". "The Hostage" reached the top of the charts in France, but was removed from radio playlists in Germany because of the song's subject matter; a high ranking politician that had recently been kidnapped and held for ransom. One of her first TV appearances was in the television show, Van Oekel's Discohoek, which started the breakthrough of "The Hostage", and in which she gracefully went along with the scripted absurdity and chaos in the show.
In 1975, Summer passed on an idea for a song to Moroder who was working with another artist; a song that would be called "Love to Love You". Summer and Moroder wrote the song together, and together they worked on a demo version with Summer singing the song. Moroder decided that Summer's version should be released. Seeking an American release for the song, it was sent to Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart. Bogart played the song at one of his extravagant industry parties, where it was so popular with the crowd, they insisted that it be played over and over, each time it ended. Bogart requested that Moroder produce a longer version for discothèques. Moroder, Bellotte, and Summer returned with a 17-minute version. Bogart tweaked the title to "Love to Love You Baby", and Casablanca signed Summer, releasing the single in November 1975. The shorter 7" version of the single was promoted by radio stations, while clubs regularly played the 17 minute version (the longer version would also appear on the album).
By early 1976, "Love to Love You Baby" had reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and had become a Gold single, while the album had sold over a million copies. The song generated controversy due to Summer's moans and groans, and some American stations, like those in Europe with the initial release, refused to play it. Despite this, "Love to Love You Baby" found chart success in several European countries, and made the Top 5 in the United Kingdom despite the BBC ban. Casablanca wasted no time releasing the album A Love Trilogy, featuring "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It" No. 80 and Summer's remarkable rendition of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" No. 52, which was followed by Four Seasons of Love, which spawned the singles "Spring Affair" No. 58 and "Winter Melody", No. 43. Both albums went Gold.
In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday. The song "I Feel Love", reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 chart. and No. 1 in the UK. She received her first American Music Award nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist. The single would attain Gold status and the album went Platinum in the U.S. Another concept album, also released in 1977, was Once Upon a Time, a double album which told of a modern-day Cinderella "rags to riches" story. This album would attain Gold status. Summer recorded the song "Down Deep Inside" as the theme song for the 1977 film The Deep. In 1978, Summer acted in the film Thank God It's Friday, the film met with modest success; the song "Last Dance", reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. The soundtrack and single both went Gold and resulted in Summer winning her first Grammy Award, for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Its writer, Paul Jabara, won both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for the composition. Summer also had "With Your Love" and "Je t'aime... moi non plus", on the soundtrack. Her version of the Jimmy Webb ballad, "MacArthur Park", became her first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 chart. It was also the only No. 1 hit for songwriter Jimmy Webb; the single went Gold and topped the charts for three weeks. She received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was featured on Summer's first live album, Live and More, which also became her first album to hit number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and went double-Platinum, selling over 2 million copies. The week of November 11, 1978, Summer became the first female artist of the modern rock era to have the No. 1 single on the Hot 100 and album on the Billboard 200 charts, simultaneously. The song "Heaven Knows", which featured Brooklyn Dreams singer Joe "Bean" Esposito; reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 and became another Gold single.
In 1979, Summer won three American Music Awards for Single, Album and Female Artist, in the Disco category at the awards held in January. Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert, joining contemporaries such as ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for a TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world's children. Artists donated royalties of certain songs, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause. Summer began work on her next project with Moroder and Bellotte, Bad Girls. Mororder brought in Harold Faltermeyer, with whom he had collaborated on the soundtrack of film Midnight Express, to be the album's arranger. Faltermeyer's role would significantly increase from arranger, as he played keyboards and wrote songs with Summer.
The album went triple-Platinum, spawning the number-one hits "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", that went Platinum, and the number-two "Dim All the Lights" which went Gold. The week of June 16, 1979, Summer would again have the number-one single on the Hot 100 chart, and the number-one album on the Billboard 200 chart; when "Hot Stuff" regained the top spot on the Hot 100 chart. The following week, "Bad Girls" would be on top of the U.S. Top R&B albums chart, "Hot Stuff" remained at No. 1, and "Bad Girls", the single, would climb into the top five on the Hot 100. The following week, Summer was the first solo artist to have two songs in the Hot 100 top three at the same time. In July 1979, Summer topped the Hot 100 singles chart, and the Billboard 200 albums chart, and the Soul singles chart simultaneously. In the week of November 10, 1979, "Dim All the Lights" peaked at No. 2 for two weeks; the following week "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" would get to No. 3; and once again Summer would have two songs in the top 3, on the Hot 100. One week later, "No More Tears" climbed to No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 chart, and "Dim All the Lights" went to No. 4; she again had two songs in the top 5 of the Hot 100 chart. In the span of eight months, Summer had topped both the singles and albums charts simultaneously, three times. She became the first Female Artist to have three number-one singles in a calendar year. With "Mac Arthur Park", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", and the Barbra Streisand-duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)", Summer achieved four number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart within a 12-month period. Including "Heaven Knows" and "Dim All the Lights" she had achieved six top 4 singles on the Hot 100 chart in the same 12-month period. Those songs, along with "Last Dance", "On the Radio", and "The Wanderer", would give her nine Top 5 singles on the Hot 100 chart in just over a two-year period. The single, "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" would sell over 2 million copies becoming a Platinum success. "Hot Stuff" won her a Grammy Award in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, the first time the category was included. She was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and both Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as well as Best Disco Recording. That year, Summer played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.
Casablanca then released On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, her first (international) greatest hits set, in 1979. The album was mixed differently than the original songs issued on it, with each song segueing into the next, and included two new songs "On the Radio" and "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)". It would be the first time that such an album package would be made. The album went No. 1, her third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, and gained double-Platinum status. "On the Radio", reached No. 5, selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone, making it a Gold single. Summer would again receive a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
1980–1985
Summer received four nominations for the 7th Annual American Music Awards in January 1980, and took home awards for Female Pop/Rock and Female Soul/R&B Artist; and well as Pop/Rock single for "Bad Girls". Just over a week after the awards, Summer had her own nationally televised special, The Donna Summer Special, which aired on ABC network on January 27, 1980. After the release of the On the Radio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other musical styles, which led to tensions between her and Casablanca Records. Casablanca wanted her to continue to record disco only. Summer was upset with President Neil Bogart over the early release of the single "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)"; she had penned "Dim All the Lights" alone, and was hoping for a number-one hit as a songwriter. Not waiting until "Dim All the Lights" had peaked, or at least another month as promised; Summer felt it had detracted from the singles chart momentum. Summer and the label parted ways in 1980, and she signed with Geffen Records, the new label started by David Geffen. Summer had filed a $10 million lawsuit against Casablanca; the label counter-sued. In the end, she did not receive any money, but won the rights to her own lucrative song publishing.
Summer's first Geffen album, The Wanderer, featured an eclectic mixture of sounds, bringing elements of rock, rockabilly, new wave and gospel music. The Wanderer was rushed to market. The producers of the album wanted more production time. The album continued Summer's streak of Gold albums with the title track peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart. Its follow-up singles were, "Cold Love" No.33 and "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'", No.40. Summer was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Cold Love", and Best Inspirational Performance for "I Believe in Jesus" at the 1981 Grammy Awards.
She would soon be working on her next album. It was to be another double album set. When David Geffen stopped by the studio for a preview, he was warned that it was a work in progress, but it was almost done. That was a mistake, because only a few tracks had been finished, and most of them were in demo phase. He heard enough to tell producers that it was not good enough; the project was canceled. It would be released years later in 1996, under the title I'm a Rainbow. Over the years, a few of the tracks would be released. The song "Highway Runner" appears on the soundtrack for the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. "Romeo" appears on the Flashdance soundtrack. Both, "I'm a Rainbow" and "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" would be on her 1993 Anthology album.
David Geffen hired top R&B and pop producer Quincy Jones to produce Summer's next album, the eponymously titled Donna Summer. The album took over six months to record as Summer, who was pregnant at the time, found it hard to sing. During the recording of the project, Neil Bogart died of cancer in May 1982 at age 39. Summer would sing at his funeral. The album included the top ten hit "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)"; for which she received a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Summer was also nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Protection", penned for her by Bruce Springsteen. Other singles included a cover of the Jon and Vangelis song "State of Independence" (No. 41 pop) and "The Woman in Me" (No. 33 pop).
By then Geffen Records was notified by Polygram Records, who now owned Casablanca, that Summer still needed to deliver them one more album to fulfill her contract with them. Summer had her biggest success in the 1980s while on Geffen's roster with her next album She Works Hard for the Money and its title song — which were released by Mercury Records in a one-off arrangement to settle Summer's split with the soon-to-be-defunct Casablanca Records, whose catalogue now resided with Mercury and Casablanca's parent company PolyGram.
Summer recorded and delivered the album She Works Hard for the Money and Polygram released it on its Mercury imprint in 1983. The title song became a major hit, reaching No. 3 on the US Hot 100, as well as No. 1 on Billboard's R&B chart for three weeks. It also garnered Summer another Grammy nomination, for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. "Unconditional Love", which featured the British group Musical Youth, and "Love Has a Mind of Its Own" did not crack the top 40. The album itself was certified Gold, and climbed to No. 9 on the Billboard 200 chart; the highest chart position of any female artist in male-dominated 1983. The song "He's a Rebel" would win Summer her third Grammy Award, this time for Best Inspirational Performance.
British director Brian Grant was hired to direct Summer's video for "She Works Hard for the Money". The video was a success, being nominated for Best Female Video and Best Choreography at the 1984 MTV Music Video Awards; Summer became one of the first African-American artists, and the first African-American female artist to have her video played in heavy rotation on MTV. Grant would also be hired to direct Summer's Costa Mesa HBO concert special, A Hot Summers Night. Grant who was a fan of the song State of Independence had an idea for a grand finale. He wanted a large chorus of children to join Summer on stage at the ending of the song. His team looked for local school children in Orange County, to create a chorus of 500 students. On the final day of rehearsals, the kids turned up and they had a full rehearsal. According to Grant, "It looked and sounded amazing. It was a very emotional, very tearful experience for everyone who was there." He thought if this was that kind of reaction in rehearsal, then what an impact it would have in the concert. After the rehearsal Grant was informed that he could not use the kids because the concert would end after 10 pm; children could not be licensed to be on stage at such a late hour (California had strict child labor laws in 1983). "It's a moment that I regret immensely: a grand finale concept I came up with that couldn't be filmed in the end". When the final sequence was filmed, Summer's daughter Mimi and her family members joined her on stage for "State of Independence".
In late 1983, David Geffen enlisted She Works Hard for the Money's producer Michael Omartian to produce Cats Without Claws. Summer was happy that Geffen and his executives stayed out of the studio during the recording and thanked him in the album's liner notes, but her request for the lead single would be rejected. The album failed to attain Gold status in the U.S., her first album not to do so. It was first album not to yield a top ten hit, since 1977's Once Upon a Time. The Drifters cover "There Goes My Baby" reached No. 21 and "Supernatural Love" went to No. 75. She would win another Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance for the song "Forgive Me".
On January 19, 1985, she sang at the nationally televised 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan.
1986–1989
In 1986, Harold Faltermeyer wrote the title song for a German ski movie called Fire and Ice, and thought Summer would be ideal to sing the song. He decided to reach out to Summer and, although she was not interested in singing the song, she was very much interested in working with Faltermeyer again. After a meeting with David Geffen he was on board with the project. Summer's main objective for the album was that it have stronger R&B influences; Faltermeyer who had just finished doing the soundtracks to Top Gun and Fletch, was after a tough FM-oriented sound. On completion, Geffen liked what he heard, but his executives did not think there were enough songs that could be deemed singles. They wanted Faltermeyer to produce "Dinner with Gershwin", but he was already busy with another project, so another producer was found. They also substituted a previous recording called "Bad Reputation", songs like "Fascination", fell by the wayside. Geffen had shared the vision of moving Summer into the R&B market as a veteran artist, but these expectations were not met. Faltermeyer, in a 2012 interview with Daeida Magazine, said, "She was an older artist by then and the label's priority may have been on the youth market. The decision was made afterward by executives who were looking for a radio hit for 1987 and not something that would perhaps last beyond then." The label's President Ed Rosenblatt would later admit: "The company never intended to focus on established superstars". The album All Systems Go, did not achieve Gold status. The single "Dinner with Gershwin" (written by Brenda Russell) stalled at 48 in the US, though it became a hit in the UK, peaking at No. 13. The album's title track, "All Systems Go", was released only in the UK, where it peaked at No. 54.
For Summer's next album, Geffen Records hired the British hit production team of Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who enjoyed incredible success writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Bananarama, and Rick Astley, among others. The "SAW" team describe the working experience as a labour of love, and said it was their favourite album of all that they had recorded. Geffen decided not to release the album Another Place and Time, and Summer and Geffen Records parted ways in 1988. The album was released in Europe in March 1989 on Warner Bros. Records, which had been Summer's label in Europe since 1982. The single "This Time I Know It's for Real" became a top ten hit in several countries in Europe, prompting Warner Bros.' sister company, Atlantic Records, to sign Summer in the U.S. The single peaked at No. 7 on the US Hot 100 and became her 12th Gold single in America. She scored two more UK hits from the album, "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" (UK No. 7) and "Love's About to Change My Heart" (UK No. 20).
In 1989, Summer and her husband, Bruce Sudano, had been in talks to do a new kind of reality-based sitcom. It would be based on their own hectic household. At the time, they lived with their children Amanda, Brooklyn and Mimi, two sets of in-laws, and a maid. The television network started changing the premise of the show, making it less funny, says Sudano, "And because we were an interracial couple, they didn't want us to be married anymore". In 1989, this was "an issue. So with that mentality we just backed out of it."
1990–1999: Mistaken Identity, acting, and Live & More Encore
In 1990, a Warner compilation, The Best of Donna Summer, was released (No U.S. issue). The album went Gold in the UK after the song "State of Independence" was re-released there to promote the album. The following year, Summer worked with producer Keith Diamond emerged with the album Mistaken Identity, which included elements of R&B as well as new jack swing. "When Love Cries" continued her success on the R&B charts, reaching No. 18. In 1992, Summer embarked on a world tour and later that year received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She reunited with Giorgio Moroder, for the song "Carry On", which was included on the 1993, Polygram issued The Donna Summer Anthology, it contained 34 tracks of Summer's material with Casablanca and Mercury Records, and from her tenures with Atlantic and Geffen.
Summer signed with Mercury/Polygram that same year, and in 1994 she re-teamed with producer Michael Omartian to record a Christmas album, Christmas Spirit, which included classic Christmas songs such as "O Holy Night" and "White Christmas" and three Summer-penned songs,"Christmas is Here", "Lamb of God" and the album's title track. Summer was accompanied by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Another hits collection, Endless Summer: Greatest Hits, was released featuring eighteen songs. There were two new tracks "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" and "Any Way at All". In 1994, she also contributed to the Tribute To Edith Piaf album, singing La Vie En Rose. In 1995, "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" went No. 1 on the US dance charts, and No. 21 in the UK. In 1996, Summer recorded a duet with Bruce Roberts, Whenever There Is Love, which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Daylight (1996 film). In 1996, Summer also recorded Does He Love You with Liza Minnelli, which appeared Minnelli's Gently (album).
During this time, Summer had role on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel's (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona. She made a few appearances in 1997. In 1998, Summer received the first Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Carry On", was released in 1997. In 1999, Summer was asked to do the Divas 2 concert, but when she went in and met with the producers, it was decided that they would do Donna in concert by herself. Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live & More Encore, producing the second highest ratings for the network that year, after their annual Divas special. A CD of the event was released by Epic Records and featured two studio recordings, "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)" and "Love Is the Healer", both of which reached No. 1 on the U.S. dance charts.
2000–2009: Later recordings and Crayons
In 2000, Summer participated in VH1's third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, she sang the Supreme's hit Reflections, and her own material for the show. "The Power of One" is a theme song for the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000. The dramatic ballad was produced by David Foster and dance remixes were also issued to DJs and became another dance floor success for Summer, peaking at No. 2 on the same chart in 2000. In 2003, Summer issued her autobiography, Ordinary Girl: The Journey, and released a best-of set titled The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer. In 2004, Summer was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame as an artist, alongside the Bee Gees and Barry Gibb. Her classic song, "I Feel Love", was inducted that night as well. In 2004 and 2005, Summer's success on the dance charts continued with the songs "You're So Beautiful" and "I Got Your Love". In 2004, Summer re-recorded the track with the Irish pop band Westlife (with a live performance) for the compilation album, Discomania.
In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, entitled Crayons. Released on the Sony BMG label Burgundy Records, it peaked at No. 17 on the U.S. Top 200 Album Chart, her highest placing on the chart since 1983. The songs I'm a Fire, Stamp Your Feet and Fame (The Game) all reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart. The ballad Sand on My Feet was released to adult contemporary stations and reached No. 30 on that chart. Summer said, "I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it. I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There's a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else, like when you're cooking."
2010–2013: Final recordings
On July 29, 2010, Summer gave an interview with Allvoices.com wherein she was asked if she would consider doing an album of standards. She said, "I actually am, probably in September. I will begin work on a standards album. I will probably do an all-out dance album and a standards album. I'm going to do both and we will release them however we're going to release them. We are not sure which is going first."
In August 2010, Summer released the single "To Paris With Love", co-written with Bruce Roberts and produced by Peter Stengaard. The single went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart in October 2010. That month, Summer also appeared on the PBS television special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it, Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs "Un-Break My Heart / Crazy / On the Radio" before closing the show with "Last Dance".
On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity, singing alongside contestant Prince Poppycock, on the television show America's Got Talent.
On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show Platinum Hit, in an episode entitled "Dance Floor Royalty". In July of that same year, Summer was working at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer O'Mega Red. Together they worked on a track titled "Angel".
On December 11, 2012, after four prior nominations, Summer was posthumously announced to be one of the 2013 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame., and was inducted on April 18, 2013, at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater.
A remix album titled Love to Love You Donna, containing new remixes of some of Summer's classics, was released in October 2013. "MacArthur Park" was remixed by Laidback Luke for the remix collection; it was also remixed by Ralphi Rosario, which version was released to dance clubs all over America and successfully peaked at No. 1, giving Summer her first posthumous number-one single, and her twentieth number-one on the charts.
Controversy
In the mid-1980s, Summer was embroiled in a controversy. She allegedly had made anti-gay remarks regarding the then-relatively new disease, AIDS. Summer publicly denied that she had ever made any such comments, and in a letter to the AIDS campaign group ACT UP in 1989 said it was "a terrible misunderstanding." In explaining why she did not respond to ACT UP sooner, Summer stated "I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters. If I have caused you pain, forgive me." She closed her letter with Bible quotes (from Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians).
Also in 1989, Summer told The Advocate magazine that "a couple of the people I write with are gay, and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference." A couple of years later, she filed a lawsuit against New York magazine when it printed an old story about the rumors as fact, just as she was about to release her album Mistaken Identity in 1991. According to a Biography television program dedicated to Summer in which she participated in 1995, the lawsuit was settled out of court, though neither side was able to divulge any details.
Personal life
Summer was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She married the Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 and gave birth to their daughter Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer (called Mimi) the same year. The couple divorced in 1976, but Summer kept the anglicized version of her ex-husband's surname as her stage name.
Summer married Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano on July 16, 1980. On January 5, 1981, she gave birth to their daughter Brooklyn Sudano (who is now an actress, singer and dancer), and on August 11, 1982 she gave birth to their daughter Amanda Sudano (who in 2005 became one half of the musical duo Johnnyswim alongside Abner Ramirez). In Los Angeles, Summer was also one of the founding members of Oasis Church.
Summer and her family moved from the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles to Nashville, Tennessee, in1995, where she took time off from show business to focus on painting, a hobby she had begun back in the 1980s.
In 1995, Summer's mother died of pancreatic cancer. Her father died of natural causes in December 2004.
Death
Summer died on May 17, 2012 at her home in Naples, Florida, aged 63, from lung cancer. A nonsmoker, Summer theorized that her cancer was caused by inhaling toxic fumes and dust from the September 11 attacks in New York City. However some reports have instead attributed the cancer to Summer's smoking during her younger years, her continued exposure to second-hand smoking while performing in clubs well after she had herself quit, and a predisposition to this disease in the family. Summer was survived by her husband, Bruce Sudano, and her daughters Mimi (with ex-husband Helmut Sommer), Brooklyn Sudano, and Amanda Sudano.
Summer's funeral service was held in Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, on the afternoon of May 23, 2012. The exact location and time of the service were kept secret. Several hundred of Summer's friends and relatives appeared at the funeral, according to CNN. The funeral was a private ceremony, and cameras were not allowed inside the church. She was interred in the Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens cemetery in Nashville.
Reaction
Singers and music industry professionals around the world reacted to Summer's death. Gloria Gaynor said she was "deeply saddened" and that Summer was "a fine lady and human being". Liza Minnelli said, "She was a queen, The Queen Of Disco, and we will be dancing to her music forever." She said that her "thoughts and prayers are with her family always." Dolly Parton said, "Donna, like Whitney, was one of the greatest voices ever. I loved her records. She was the disco queen and will remain so. I knew her and found her to be one of the most likable and fun people ever. She will be missed and remembered." Janet Jackson wrote that Summer "changed the world of music with her beautiful voice and incredible talent." Barbra Streisand wrote, "I loved doing the duet with her. She had an amazing voice and was so talented. It's so sad." Quincy Jones wrote that Summer's voice was "the heartbeat and soundtrack of a generation." Aretha Franklin said, "It's so shocking to hear about the passing of Donna Summer. In the 1970s, she reigned over the disco era and kept the disco jumping. Who will forget 'Last Dance'? A fine performer and a very nice person." Chaka Khan said, "Donna and I had a friendship for over 30 years. She is one of the few black women I could speak German with and she is one of the few friends I had in this business." Gloria Estefan averred that "It's the end of an era", and posted a photo of herself with Summer. Mary J. Blige tweeted "RIP Donna Summer !!!!!!!! You were truly a game changer !!!" Lenny Kravitz wrote "Rest in peace Donna, You are a pioneer and you have paved the way for so many of us. You transcended race and genre. Respect.. Lenny".
Beyoncé penned a personal note: "Donna Summer made music that moved me both emotionally and physically to get up and dance. You could always hear the deep passion in her voice. She was so much more than the queen of disco she became known for, she was an honest and gifted singer with flawless vocal talent. I've always been a huge fan and was honored to sample one of her songs. She touched many generations and will be sadly missed. My love goes out to her family during this difficult time. Love, B".
David Foster said, "My wife and I are in shock and truly devastated. Donna changed the face of pop culture forever. There is no doubt that music would sound different today if she had never graced us with her talent. She was a super-diva and a true superstar who never compromised when it came to her career or her family. She always did it with class, dignity, grace and zero attitude. She lived in rare air ... She was the most spectacular, considerate, constant, giving, generous and loving friend of 35 years. I am at a total loss trying to process this tragic news."
U.S. President Barack Obama said, "Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Donna Summer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Donna truly was the 'Queen of Disco.' Her voice was unforgettable and the music industry has lost a legend far too soon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Donna's family and her dedicated fans."
Summer was honored at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards ceremony. Singer Natasha Bedingfield honored Summer, calling her "a remarkable woman who brought so much light and who inspired many women, including myself, through her music. And if we can remember her through her music, this will never really be the last dance." After her statement, she began to sing "Last Dance", Summer's Academy Award-winning song. As she sang the song, photos of Summer were displayed on a screen overhead.
Fans paid tribute to Summer by leaving flowers and memorabilia on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A few days after her death, her album sales increased by 3,277 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Billboard Magazine reported that the week before she died, Summer sold about 1,000 albums. After her death that number increased to 26,000.
Legacy
According to singer Marc Almond, Summer's collaboration with producer Giorgio Moroder "changed the face of music". Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach No. 1 on Billboard's album chart: Live and More, Bad Girls and On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II. She became a cultural icon and her prominence on the dance charts, for which she was referred to as the Queen of Disco, made her not just one of the defining voices of that era, but also an influence on pop artists from Madonna to Beyoncé. Unlike some other stars of disco who faded as the music became less popular in the early 1980s, Summer was able to grow beyond the genre and segued to a pop-rock sound. She had one of her biggest hits in the 1980s with "She Works Hard For the Money", which became another anthem, this time for women's rights. Summer was the first black woman to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs chart throughout her career and notched 19 number one singles. Her last studio album, 2008's Crayons, spun off three No. 1 dance/club hits with "I'm a Fire", "Stamp Your Feet" and "Fame (The Game)". In May 2012, it was announced that "I Feel Love" was included in the list of preserved recordings at the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. Her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page listed Summer as "the Diva De Tutte Dive, the first true diva of the modern pop era".
Keri Hilson portrayed Donna Summer in her 2010 music video for "Pretty Girl Rock." In 2018, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, a biographical musical featuring Summer's songs, began performances on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, following a 2017 world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.
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shefanispeculator · 5 years
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Muller's first taste of professional film came working as a third assistant on the 1984 horror/thriller Company of Wolves. She then went on to work for International Film and Video, honoring her for her editing, producing, and directing skills.
Muller's goal was to become a successful director in her own right, and her big break came through a chance meeting with John Stewart (brother of Eurythmics' Dave Stewart) and Billy Poveda of Oil Factory, an established film production company.
She has directed over two hundred music videos and has been a longtime collaborator with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, No Doubt, Shakespears Sister, Garbage, Blur, Annie Lennox and Eurythmics. Her work with Annie Lennox won her a Grammy for the Diva video album. She also picked up an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's 1992 hit "Why", and was also Grammy nominated for the Eurythmics' 1987 Savage video album. In total, Muller has directed over twenty videos for Lennox and Eurythmics and has a long time collaboration with producer Rob Small.
The video for "Stay" by Shakespears Sister in which she directed was spoofed by many British comedians at the time including French & Saunders and Mr. Blobby as well as winning the BRIT Award for Best Video and also The Music Week Award for Best Video at both of the ceremonies' 1993 Awards.
She has directed eleven videos for Sophie Ellis-Bextor including "Take Me Home", "Murder on the Dancefloor", "Catch You", two versions of "Music Gets the Best of Me" and "Love Is a Camera".
Muller has also directed nine videos for No Doubt as well as nine solo videos for Gwen Stefani. When No Doubt's "Don't Speak" won the award for Best Group Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Stefani thanked her extensively, saying "I'd like to say that Sophie Muller is a genius." Stefani has also stated,
Sophie Muller is one of my most talented friends. She can and will only do projects that she is inspired by. She is driven by creativity and the love for what she does and as a result she never compromises. I consider her a true artist. I was a fan of Sophie's work before I even imagined working with her. She has a very pronounced style and taste that drew me in. I think she has the gift of being able to bring out the artist's personality, emotion and style. After working with her for the first time on our "Don't Speak" video, we became close friends [...]. On the set her direction is humble and simple, but she knows what she wants and knows when she gets it. A woman in charge in the male-dominated world of filmmaking makes the whole experience that much more exciting. [...] She has a way of making every cut have a reason and meaning. The videos have a life of their own and become better each time you watch them. I am always in shock the first time I see them and then after a few more times I am actually amazed. She has taught me a lot and I feel very lucky to have worked with her.[1]
The artwork for The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1994 album, Stoned & Dethroned, and the singles accompanying it, is composed entirely of stills from the video to the group's song "Sometimes Always", which was directed by Muller. She also directed the video for "Come On", which also appears on the album.
Muller states that her only ambition is to continue directing to her own high standards and to never grow bored. In 2004, she directed the socially aware video for Sarah McLachlan's "World on Fire",[2] where all but $15 of the entire $150,000 video budget was donated to charities. Recently, she has directed videos for Shakira, Mika, Kings of Leon, Brandon Flowers, Tom Odell and the critically acclaimed video for the Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice". 
]
2010
Sade – "Soldier of Love"
Sade – "Babyfather"
Armin van Buuren vs. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Not Giving Up on Love"
Cheryl Cole – "Promise This"
Cheryl Cole – "The Flood"
Brandon Flowers – "Only The Young"
Kings of Leon – "Radioactive"
2011
The Kills – "Satellite"
Ellie Goulding – "Lights"
Noah and the Whale – "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N."
Birdy – "Skinny Love"
Sade – "Love Is Found"
2012
Alicia Keys – "Girl on Fire"
No Doubt – "Settle Down"
Beyoncé – "I Was Here"
No Doubt – "Push and Shove"
Labrinth feat Emeli Sandé – "Beneath Your Beautiful"
2013
Rihanna – "Stay"
Tom Odell – "Hold Me"
Garbage and Screaming Females – "Because the Night"
Lana Del Rey – "Young and Beautiful"[7]
Pink feat. Lily Rose Cooper – "True Love"
Birdy – "Wings"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Wanderlust" (Álbum trailer)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Young Blood"[8]
John Mayer featuring Katy Perry – "Who You Love"
Robin Thicke – "Feel Good"
Katy B – "Crying for No Reason"
2014
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Runaway Daydreamer"
Tim McGraw  – "Lookin' for That Girl"[9]
Birdy – "Words As Weapons"
Katy B – "Still"
Garbage – "Girls Talk"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Love Is a Camera"
OneRepublic – "Love Runs Out"
Gwen Stefani – "Baby Don't Lie"
Gwen Stefani – "Spark the Fire"
Labrinth – "Jealous"
Beck – "Heart Is a Drum"
Sam Smith – "Like I Can"
2015
Garbage – "The Chemicals"
Selena Gomez – "Good for You" (Version 1)
Selena Gomez featuring ASAP Rocky – "Good for You" (Version 2)
Misty Miller – "Happy"
One Direction – "Perfect"
Gwen Stefani – "Used to Love You"
2016
Gwen Stefani – "Make Me Like You"
The Kills – "Heart of a Dog"
Gwen Stefani  – "Misery"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Familia album trailer
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Come With Us"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Crystallise"
Gwen Stefani" – "Kuu Kuu Harajuku" (Theme Song Music Video)·
Noah Cyrus – "Make Me (Cry)"
2017
Wolf Alice – "Don't Delete the Kisses"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Wild Forever"
London Grammar – "Big Picture"
The Kills – "Whirling Eye"
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill – "Speak to a Girl"
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – "Death of Love"
Morrissey – "Spent the Day in Bed"
Bebe Rexha feat. Florida Georgia Line – "Meant to Be"
2018
Kylie Minogue – "Dancing"
Julia Michaels – "Heaven"
Echosmith – "Over My Head"
Kylie Minogue featuring Gente de Zona – "Stop Me from Falling" (Remix)
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – "Bad Dreams"
Kylie Minogue – "Golden"
Bebe Rexha – "I'm a Mess"
Cheryl – "Love Made Me Do It"
Gwen Stefani feat. Blake Shelton – "You Make It Feel Like Christmas"
2019
Marina and the Diamonds – "Handmade Heaven"
Dido – "Give You Up"
Lil Pump ft. Lil Wayne – "Be Like Me"
Marina and the Diamonds – "Orange Trees"
Blake Shelton – "God’s Country"
Shakespears Sister – "All the Queen's Horses"
Tiësto, Jonas Blue & Rita Ora – "Ritual"
Easy Life – "Earth"
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Happy 30th To Me
So I was thinking long and hard about what I would like to do on Tumblr to mark my 30th birthday. So I’ve decided to give you 15 opinions I have about the various fandoms I live around. Some may be unpopular opinions and some may be very popular opinions. This might get negative in some parts but hey, it’s my birthday and I’ll bitch if I want to. And it’s 15 opinions because it was around the age of 15 when I became aware of the existence of fandom.
This list is in not particular order. I’m just literally listing things off as they come to mind.
1. The Mummy (the Brendon Fraser one) is the best movie of all time with the greatest otp of all time. This movie has it all – action, adventure, romance, humor. And Rick and Evie are just the cutest couple ever.
2. I didn’t care about Derek from Teen Wolf. Derek stans, don’t construe this to mean I didn’t like Derek. He was fine. I just wasn’t invested in him as a character and it really only felt like he was there to be eye candy to give the adults something to look at.
3. I will never ship canon Sterek. I get why the fandom was upset about Sterek. We all get a little disappointed when our favorite ships don’t go canon. But it always came off as pretty obvious, to me anyways, that the show had no intention of delivering on Sterek. I think fanon Sterek is a lot of fun (if you adjust the age difference) but looking at Sterek on the show, there just wasn’t enough there for me to actually really get into the ship. They had some nice interactions but nothing that really lead me to believe there was a love story between them that needed to be told. Plus, with Derek being an adult and Stiles still a minor, I’m just not into that statutory thing.
4. My favorite Taylor Swift album is Fearless. A lot of people gravitate towards Red as Taylor’s best album and that it should’ve won a Grammy but that’s not my opinion. For me, Fearless is where it’s at. While the songwriting is amazing in Red, more often than not, when I have Taylor Swift on shuffle, I find myself skipping songs from Red the most. Red has a bunch of songs that are nice to listen to but they don’t necessarily make me want to get up and sing into my hair brush in the way that Fearless does. Fearless has great songwriting plus it inspires me to belt out the songs in the shower. It’s kind of the best of both worlds, really.
5. In the original Charmed, Prue was my least favorite sister. I’m sorry, but I thought she was a really shitty sister who through her entire character arc never really resonated with me.
6. I did not like Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. And this goes just beyond the whole popular trend of people not liking Brie. Personally, I thought she gave a very weak performance. And I legitimately do not care about Captain Marvel’s presence in the MCU.
7. I actually like the Star Wars prequels. Are they perfect films? Certainly not. But I think they very much do succeed in telling the story of the events that lead into episode 4 and in an enjoyable way. Sure, there’s a couple of plot holes here and there but they’re not really that big of a deal to me. It doesn’t hinder the enjoyment of the films for me.
8. I think Disney Star Wars sucks though. I’ve found these movies to be overall pointless and a waste of time. They’re literally just telling the exact same story 4-6 did, just in a less interesting way. They do nothing to enrich the Star Wars universe, the new characters are bland and boring and I can’t stand how all the male characters have to be written as incompetent in order to make the female characters shine (it’s such lazy writing). I’m all about having strong female characters but not at the cost of the male characters being lowered beneath them. At that point, those “strong female characters” aren’t actually strong, they’re just a caricature of a power fantasy.
9. Show!Malec in Shadowhunters is awful. Yup, I said it. They have a really shitty relationship and their endgame was not at all earned. Well, let’s be honest, no one’s endgame in the show was earned. Shadowhunters was just a badly written show in general and I don’t feel bad at all that it was cancelled.
10. I don’t understand the obsession with Good Omens currently. This show has taken over Tumblr practically and I guess I don’t understand why? I didn’t think the show was all that good. It was fun, I didn’t mind watching it, but I don’t have this desire to write meta about it and analyze every aspect of it. As a show, it was fine but ultimately, I felt I could move on from it relatively quickly. Maybe this is one of those things where you have to read the books to really understand.
11. Chuck is a really good and underrated tv series. And you should totally watch it.
12. I actually dislike Josie way more than I dislike Hope on Legacies. Surprising, I know, considering I’m always complaining about Hope but really, while Hope may be this Mary Sue kind of character, I just think Josie is really dull and predictable. Even though her self-entitled personality grates on my nerves, there is a potential for an interesting character. Selfless as a flaw though, is my least favorite character trait, it’s just cheesy, and it makes me cringe, so yeah, Josie makes me cringe.
13. Power Rangers is a fun franchise. I’m not ashamed to admit that I unironically enjoy this series. And this isn’t childhood nostalgia talking as I never got into Power Rangers as a kid. I didn’t start watching the franchise until I was an adult and I found that I actually kind of enjoy it.
14. I don’t want any romantic endgames for the SPN finale. I think the ship wars within the SPN finale are really dumb. And the way THAT faction behaves in regards to their ship, is really toxic and I don’t want their ship to happen specifically because I’m a vindictive person and I want karma to roll back on them.
15. Dean Winchester really is kind of the worst.
I’m fond of saying that with season 14, me and Dean just kind of had a falling out but really, the more I think about the show, the more I realize that there’s just no way season 15 could possibly redeem Dean’s character in my eyes in a way that I would be okay with it. But knowing how the writers typically write Dean, it’s probably futile to hope Dean will face any meaningful consequences and the writing probably will bend over backwards to absolve him of guilt like they usually do.
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10839445-blog · 5 years
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Don’t Step On A Kitten
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Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s first public interaction will always be infamous. In 2009 fifteen year old Taylor shocked the public when she won “Female Video of the Year” over Beyonce. Her big moment that she had been dreaming about her whole life was quickly interrupted when rapstar Kanye West got up on stage and stole the mic from her. If you know anything about Kanye it is that he can’t keep his huge mouth shut and he didn’t mind it either. But if he knew what he was about to do would blow up in his face and stay with him throughout his career would he still have done it? Kanye shouted to the crowd, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’ll let you finish… but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” Then casually shrugs, tosses the mic back to Taylor, and heads back to his seat. From then on Taylor and Kanye have had many back and forth moments in their “relationship”, most of them being unpleasant.
One of the main questions asked within this fan community is, did Kanye West help Taylor Swift’s career take off because of the 2009 Video Music Awards incident? Kanye West claims that he is the reason Taylor is considered one of the biggest pop stars today. He went as far as to further this claim by writing the hit “Famous” where he says “I made that b*tch famous”.  So, is Kayne West really the reason behind Taylor Swift’s success? I believe taylor creates her own success through her relationships with other well known artists and popular figures, she keeps her fans and the public interested, and the speech from Kanye only motivated Taylor to stand up for herself.
Taylor creates her success through her relationships with other well known artists and popular figures. Ever since 2009 everyone has something to say, including President Barack Obama. In an interview close after the VMA’s Obama was doing an off-the-record portion of a television  interview with CNBC. He was asked the question “Were your girls as hecked off as mine were that Kanye gave Taylor Swift the Joe Wilson treatment?” Obama responded to this question by straight up calling him a jackass. He said “I thought that was really inappropriate, ya know? Like she’s getting an award, why are you butting in? She seems like a perfectly nice young lady, just receiving her award. He’s a jackass.”
This was definitely a common response. Most people, whether they were fans of Taylor Swift or not, defended her side of the scenario and bashed Kanye. Which is appropriate considering the circumstances. He deserved it. Obama was definitely not the only well known person to speak up about the situation. There was many other stars who weren’t afraid to speak out on twitter. Katy Perry tweeted “F*** YOU KANYE. IT’S LIKE YOU STEPPED ON A KITTEN.” Kellie Pickler stated.. “Tater Tot, you handled yourself with Grace. Kanye, go grow some f-ing balls bi***! Don’t mess with  my little sis!!” and Tom Fletcher also stepped in with “Taylor Swift should have kicked him in the nuts! What an eventful VMA’s!” No wonder Kanye “took some time to himself” and went MIA for a couple months. I would too if I was getting bashed for “stepping on a kitten”.
When Taylor Swift found out that she was nominated for two awards at the next VMAs she tweeted “Two nominations!! If you vote and get us one, I promise to keep a firmer grip on the mic this time;)” This was when we first started realizing that Taylor wasn’t some young, innocent country singer. If you push her she isn’t afraid to push back, thus, one of the strangest rivalries in music history was born.
Taylor keeps her fans and the public interested by changing up her style and genre regularly. Taylor started off her career by singing country music. As she got more and  more famous she gradually started changing her style from country to pop. She started off as Americas “princess”/ “the girl next door” but when we started seeing more of her out in the public eye is when she started to change into the girl you don’t mess with. This all began changing around the same time her music style started changing. So, what pushed her into pop?
She loves to write about her drama, and soon they become her top hit songs. At the beginning of her career Taylor would write country love songs about the boys she had crushes on, and then later she wrote about the heartbreak that followed. Once she realized you can’t write a lovey dovey country song about some women celebrity who steals your man, she realized she had to switch things up. Everyone went crazy when she had released her first pop album, Red, in 2014. Since then she has been writing about anything and everything, from boys who cheat on her, getting revenge, any girls that cross her and her squad, how the “old” taylor is dead, etc.
Taylor Swift makes it through the music industry perfectly fine on her own. In 2009 she made $63.7 million on her Fearless world tour, pretty good for a 15 year old. Later on in 2011/2012 on her “Speak Now” tour she made around $123 million. This most recent album she  made 54 million dollars on the first 6 days of her Reputation world tour alone. By the time the tour ends in under just six months it is estimated to have made 400 million dollars. Taylor is clearly making more income than she did at the time of the 2009 VMA’s, and that makes sense considering once she generates exposure she in turn will generate popularity.
If anything, Kanye's speech only motivated Taylor to stand up for herself. Aside from the large increase in fans and sales following the incident, Kanye’s disrespect gave taylor something new to write about. Taylor gradually went from an artist that stuck to a general relationship storyline in all of her songs, and developed into an artist that bluntly calls out her haters and stands up for herself through lyrics. New songs such as “Look What You Made Me Do” And “Bad Blood” are great examples of lyrical blackmail and revenge. Her way of writing makes fans on both sides of the feud question and conspire. Who is she writing about? If she is able to sing freely about it then maybe she has the power? Releasing these songs are Taylors way of staying in control of her publicity and speaking her truth. It is not to say that Kanye gave Taylor her voice, but maybe the humiliation she endured gave her a higher platform to promote herself.
Taylor Swift didn’t need Kanye to be where she is right now in the music industry but, people do say that he definitely played a small role. An article written in 2010 called “Did the Kanye West Incident Help Taylor Swift’s Career?” said that “the Kanye incident brought attention to Taylor, to an audience that did not really know her or her music. And when they did check it out, they discovered that they really liked it.” Which is true, in 2009 her 2008 album Fearless went on to sell 3.2 million copies, and ended up being the best selling album of 2009. It has sold over 7 million copies all over the world, which was 2 million more copies than her self-titled debut album in 2006. This shows that she definitely had more eyes on her after the 2009 VMAs. Kanye also noticed this and knowing him he wanted to be credited for it. Released about 7 years later Kanye came out with a song called Famous, where he literally points out Taylor in the lyrics saying.. “For all my Southside niggas that know me best I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn) I made that bitch famous.” These lyrics started a whole different feud concerning his wife Kim and Taylor, but that is a story for another time. Taylor and Kanye were on good terms before this song went viral, and as soon as it was released they were back on their bull shiz.
Taylor made sure to get her feelings across at that 2016 Grammys during her acceptance speech. She stated “As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to the young woman out there, there are going to be people along the way who try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” she said. “But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you will look around and you will know it was you and the people who love you who put you there.”.
In return from the the drama she was put through from the West family, Taylor released the song “Look What You Made Me Do” where she attacks Kim by singing, “I don't like your little games, don't like your tilted stage, the role you made me play, of the fool, no, I don't like you. I don't like your perfect crime, how you laugh when you lie, you said the gun was mine, Isn't cool, no, I don't like you”. To further drive her point home, Taylor addresses Kim in her music video by sitting in a bathtub full of diamonds and money, mocking her for the supposed robbery in France where Kim was placed in a bathtub.
Earlier, Swift released another song addressing her feud with Katy Perry. This time around it dealt with not only a boy, but the fact that Katy supposedly sabotaged her tour as well. Taylor addresses these circumstances in the best way she knows how. Writing songs and producing incredible music videos not only makes her money, but it entertains her fans, puts rumors to rest, and it enables her to take control.
So did Kanye help Taylor gain a few more fans? Maybe so, but he was not the reason she made it big. In 2009 she was making millions of dollars, and today is no different. Taylor continues to lead the press, entertain the industry and create her own revolution. Regardless of who motivated her to get where she is, she did it all on her own.
In conclusion, I don’t believe that Kayne West made Taylor Swift “famous”, but it is possible that he was a piece in the domino effect of her overcoming adversity and rising to the top. He was the first of many to create conflict with the pop artist, and he won’t be last. Taylor has proven the point that any publicity is good publicity, because regardless of what has come her way, she pushes on. What Kanye did in 2009 was disrespectful, but in my opinion it in no way damaged her reputation. If anything it gave Taylor a platform to speak out and stand up.  
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akshay123me-blog · 4 years
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Here we start 30 days song challenge I special that’s to my friend who challenge me to for this .  I wanted to write this blog because it turns out that as I progressed with the challenge, I realized that at the same time it became an experiment and it is about something that many of us are passionate about: Music:
I learned a lot from them through music and I’m glad they shared a lot with me. I learned how human we can be by sharing songs that make us think and feel depending on the song, the melody and its lyrics.
Here I would like to share 30 days song challenge list  that encourage you to do the challenge and  you can know among all of you new songs:
Day 01 song challenge
Your favourite song  Ed sheeran shape of you Is my favourite song    released as on 6 January 2017 “Shape of You” peaked at number-one on the singles charts of 34 countries . it has more than 4.5 billion view on youtube the song was written by Ed Sheeran and having a great success in 2017 and also won grammy award for best solo performance .  It was the best-selling song of 2017 and the decade in the UK.
Day 02 song challenge: A song that you can dance to
“Cheap Thrills” is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Sia from her seventh studio album.  It was written by Sia Furler and Grey kurstin, while solely produced by Kurstin. In Australia, it was eventually certified Quadruple Platinum for shipments of over 280,000 copies, and reached no. 6. In New Zealand, and was certified Double Platinum for sales of over 30,000 copies. The song was awarded Quadruple Platinum in Sweden, Five time Platinum in Spain, and Double Diamond in Poland. In the UK, it peaked at No. 2 for four weeks, and was certified double platinum for shipments of over 1.2 million copies. It has over 106,309,900 views on youtube and the song became the best selling and highest certified single of all time in Italy
Day 03 song challenge: A song that makes you happy
“What Is Love” is a song recorded by Trinidadian-German Eurodance artist Haddaway for his debut album. The song was released on 8 May 1993 as the album’s lead single. It was a massive hit in Europe, becoming a number-one hit in at least 13 countries and reaching number two in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the song was moderately successful, reaching number 11 in the United States, number 12 in Australia, number 17 in Canada, and number 48 in New Zealand. The song which makes you happy while watching video of this song.
Day 4 song challenge:A song from your favorite album
“Baby” is a song by canadian recording artist Justin Bieber alongside rapper ludacrist. It was released as the lead single from the latter half of Bieber’s debut album. It was available for digital download on January 18, 2010. The song received airplay directly after release, officially impacting mainstream and rhythmic radio on January 26, 2010. The song is uptempo R&B, blending together dance  and hip-hop elements, while using influences of doo-moo music. The song has received positive reviews from critics who complimented the song’s effective lyrics and chorus, and commended Ludacris’ part and the song’s ability to have an urban twist.
Day 5 song challenge: A song that reminds you of someone you´d rather forget
ALPINE — Damn Baby:
Alpine was released in Australia in 2012 and in the US in 2013. The album was featured on Triple J  prior to its release, and debuted at No. 1 on the Australian iTunes. After an extended hiatus, Alpine returned in 2019 with a new single, “Dumb,” on May 1. A week prior, the band had announced that founding member and co-lead vocalist Lou James would be departing from the band.
Day6 song challenge : A song that you want to play at your wedding
“Ring” is a song recorded by American rapper Cardi B for her debut studio album invasion of privacy in 2018  featuring vocals from American singer  Kehlani. It was released on August 28 in 2018 as the album’s fifth and final single. On youtube it has around 8,641,355 views and 51.5 k subscribers on the challenge .
Day 7 song challenge: A song that makes you fall asleep
How Soon is Now­- In 2007, Marr said “How Soon Is Now?” is “possibly [the Smiths’] most enduring
record. It’s most people’s favourite, I think.Despite its prominent place in the Smiths’ repertoire, it is not generally considered to be representative of the band’s style. Although a club favourite, it did not chart as well as expected. Most commentators put this down to the fact that the song had been out on vinyl in a number of forms before being released as a single in its own right. The original track runs for nearly seven minutes; the 7” single edit cut the length down to under four minutes. The complete version is generally used on compilations. This isn’t to say that this masterpiece is boring. In fact it is one of my favourite Smiths songs. However, if ever I can’t sleep, I stick this on repeat and I’m soon asleep in no time.
Day 08 song challenge: A song that makes you sad
DJ Snake, AlunaGeorge — You Know You Like It
“You Know You Like It” is a song by English electronic music duo AlunaGeorge from their debut studio album, Body Music (2013). The track was released in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2012 as the album’s lead single. The song peaked at number 39 on the UK Singles Chart in April 2013 after being used in a Tesco advert.
Timed with the release of the album, “You Know You Like It” was re-released on 28 July 2013, as a double A-side with “Bad Idea”. It subsequently reached a new peak position of number 39 in the UK Singles Chart on 4 August 2013. A music video to accompany the release of “You Know You Like It” was first released onto YouTube on August 31, 2011 at a total length of three minutes and thirty seconds. The video is shot in black and white and features clips of Francis dancing.
Day 09 song challenge: A song that you wish you could play
. “If You Could See Me Now” is a song by Irish pop rock band The Script, taken from their third studio album,  (2012). The song video was released as the album’s third single on 18 February 2013. The song was released on 4 March 2013. The track was written by Danny O’Donoghue,  Sheehan, Steve Kipner and Andrew Frampton. The song is an emotional tribute d A music video to accompany the release of “If You Could See Me Now” was first released onto YouTube on 18 February 2013 at a tota l length of three minutes an forty-nine seconds
Sheehan added to O’Donoghue’s late father – and to guitarist Mark Sheehan parents. For the very first time, vocals to a song.
Day 10 song challenge: A song that you want to play at your funeral
Master of Reality is released on 21 July 1971. It is widely regarded as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and sludge metal It was certified double platinum after having sold over 2 million copies. Master of Reality was Black Sabbath’s first and only top 10 album in the US until 13, forty-two years later. The first editions of Master of Reality came in an ‘envelope sleeve’ containing a poster of the band, and with the album’s title embossed in black lettering, visible in relief. Later editions lacking the embossed printing would render the album title in grey. This was the first Black Sabbath sleeve on which the lyrics were reproduced on the back of the sleeve. It has over 2,356,897 views on youtube and around 24k subscribers.
Day 11 song challenge: A song you like with a person´s name on the title
Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah:
It features the band’s lead singer, Tom Higgenson, singing the song while the band members are in another room behind him. The other band members are not playing in the song. The only other instruments are the strings provided by Eric Remschneider, who does not appear in the video. It was released in May 2006 as the third single from their third studio album All That We Needed. The video was directed by Jay Martin.
In a split screen it shows Delilah, not the backup singer’s girlfriend, played by model Melissa McNelis, who attends college 1000 miles away in New York City. She walks around the city, presumably, from a class to her job.
Day 12 song challenge: A song that moves you forward
Incubus — Drive:  It was released in November 2000 as a single from their third album Make Yourself. It is considered the band’s biggest hit and breakthrough single, eventually reaching the top of the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart on March 3, 2001, and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 28. The song has over 145,370,900 views on youtube and around 619k subscriber.
Day 13 song challenge: A song from your childhood
Busted- In November 2013, Willis and Bourne announced plans to tour together with McFly as the “supergroup”
McBusted  in 2014, and this continued into 2015. On 10 November 2015, it was revealed that Simpson had rejoined Busted after successful secret writing sessions. The band then embarked on the pigs can fly arena tour in May 2016 and released their third studio album, Night Drive on 25 November 2016.
On 26 October 2018, Busted announced their fourth album Half way there, released on 1 February 2019, as well as a UK arena tour.
During 2003, Charlie met fellow songwriter-guitarist Alex Westaway and drummer Omar Abidi at a party. He was by this stage becoming increasingly frustrated by the music he was performing in Busted and stated he had “all of this creativity pent up inside and I just needed to vent it somewhere, and I was writing a lot of songs but I couldn’t play them, because I didn’t have anyone to play them with”. During the aforementioned party, an impromptu jam session took place.More than !14,345,233 views on youtube .
Day 14 song challenge: A song that no one would expect you to love
Drake — God’s Plan: This song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who called it a typical Drake song. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Karena Evans and uploaded onto Drake’s official YouTube channel on February 16, 2018. In the video Drake is giving away nearly one million US dollars to people and institutions in Florida. It received five nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, including for Video of the Year and three nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Rap Song, winning the last one. Commercially the song became the 29th song in history to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Drake’s fourth chart-topper in that country, and second as a lead artist. The single topped the charts in fourteen countries, including the UK and Canada and reached the top ten in nine others. The song broke first-day streaming records on both Apple Music and Spotify, and was the most streamed song of the year on both services. “God’s Plan” received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who called it a typical Drake song. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Karena Evans and uploaded onto Drake’s official YouTube channel on February 16, 2018.
Day 15 song challenge: A song that describes you
The League: This song was released on 1982 by Hardcore punk , punk rock.  For me, people have to prove they aren’t arseholes before I truly trust them, rather than prove that they arseholes after I have already made the effort to let them into my life.
Day 16 song challenge : A song that no one would expect you to love
“My Heart Will Go On”  is a song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion. It serves as the main theme song to James Cameron’s blockbuster film Titanic, that is based on an account of the British transatlantic ocean liner of the same name which sank in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The song’s music was composed by Jame Horner, its lyrics were written by Will Jennings, while the production was handled by Walter Afanasieff, Horner and Simon Franglen.
In Germany, “My Heart Will Go On” was certified 4× platinum for selling over two million copies, and was ranked as one of the most popular singles ever released there.It sold over 1.2 million copies in France, being certified Diamond. Additionally, the song was certified 3× Platinum in Belgium, 2× Platinum in Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, Platinum in Greece, and Gold in Austria. “My Heart Will Go On” was released twice in Japan. The regular edition from January 1998 sold 205,300 and was certified 2× Platinum, for 200,000 copies sold. The remixed edition released in June 1998 sold 111,920 copies and was certified Gold for 100,000 copies sold, due the fact that maxi-singles are treated as an album.
Day 17: A song that makes you think about life
Fiona Apple — Across the Universe:
One night in 1967, the phrase “words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup” came to Lennon after hearing his then-wife Cynthia, according to Lennon, “going on and on about something”. Later, after “she’d gone to sleep – and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream”, Lennon went downstairs and turned it into a song. He began to write the rest of the lyrics and when he was done, he went to bed and forgot about them.I was lying next to my first wife in bed, you know, and I was irritated, and I was thinking. She must have been going on and on about something and she’d gone to sleep and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs and it turned into a sort of cosmic song rather than an irritated song, rather than a “Why are you always mouthing off at me?”.The words] were purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don’t own it you know; it came through like that.
Day 18 song challenge : A song that reminds you of a certain event
Fire work : This song was released on july 1983 E.G Records. It reached No. 29 in Uk charts.
The album was remastered and reissued in 2008, with eight bonus tracks: the non-album single “Me Or You”, an alternate version of “Dominator” (B-side to ” Let’s All Go (to The Fire dances)an unreleased early version of “The Gathering” and four tracks from a John Peel session from 1983.
Day 19 song challenge : The voice that you like
“Love the Way You Lie” is a song recorded by the American rapper Eminem, featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna, from Eminem’s seventh studio album Recovery (2010). The singer and songwriter Skylar Grey wrote and recorded a demo of the song alongside the producer Alex da Kid when she felt she was in an abusive romantic relationship with the music industry. Eminem wrote the verses and chose Rihanna to sing the chorus, resulting in a collaboration influenced by their past experiences in difficult relationships. Recording sessions were held in Ferndale, Michigan, and Dublin, Ireland. Backed by guitar, piano and violin, the track is a midtempo hip-hop ballad with a pop refrain, sung by Rihanna, and describes two lovers who refuse to separate despite being in a dangerous love–hate relationship.This song has over 1,908,101,273 views on youtube .
Day 20 song challenge: A song that remind something
Teenager Dreame: Musically, “Teenage Dream” is a mid-tempo pop song with a retro sound. It is styled in the genres of power pop and electropop, while taking influence from other genres such as disco and pop rock. Perry starts the song in a high-pitched voice while her vocals grow stronger as the song progresses. Lyrically, “Teenage Dream” discusses being with a lover who makes one feel young again. The song has topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Perry’s third number-one single on that chart, and her second consecutive number-one single after “California Gurls”. “Teenage Dream” has been certified seven times platinum in the United States, as well as receiving platinum and multi-platinum certifications in other countries.
Day 21 song challenge: Your favourite song at this time last year
“On My Way”
On 9 March 2019, Alan Walker began teasing the song via his social media.On 14 March 2019, Alan Walker formally announced the song along with its release date.After the announcement of the song, rumours circulated that Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko would feature on the song. Alan Walker confirmed their involvement on the song on 19 March 2019. On 20 March 2019, Walker announced that he partnered with PUBG Mobile for the one-year anniversary of the game, and that the song would be the event’s theme song.
On 10 May 2019, the alternative video was posted on Alan Walker’s YouTube channel, encouraging viewers to “choose their path” of either two video versions of Carpenter and Farruko in the official alternative music video, both were posted on their respective channels that same day. The two versions of the alternative music video indicated different searches, pieces of evidence, and artifacts that the female protagonist was searching (depending on the viewer’s choice) which led to each versions ending with the same outcome, which is the scene where tombstones with stone formations which were laid on the site, that took place a month before the events of the official music video when the artifacts were being unearthed and discovered .The song has 248,161,421 views on youtube channel and 5.5 M likes.
Day 22 song channel: A song from your favorite album
“Faded” is a hit song by Norwegian record producer and DJ Alan Walker. Incorporating vocals provided by Norwegian singer Iselin Solheim, the single was originally set to be released on 25 November 2015, but was delayed to 3 December 2015. The song was highly successful, peaking in the top 10 in most of the countries it charted in, and reached the top spot in more than 10 countries. Most popular song on youtube is has around 2,603.435,671 views and around 18 millions likes.It is currently the 17th most viewed video on YouTube, with over 2.6 billion views, 18 million likes and 489 thousand dislikes as of December 2019 as well as being the 27th most streamed song on Spotify, with over 1 billion streams as of December 2019.
Day 23 song challenge : A song that you know all the words to
Boyzone-Words
The song reached No. 1 in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
“Words” was the Bee Gees third UK top 10 hit, reaching number 8, and in a UK television special on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fourth in “The Nation’s Favourite Bee Gees Song”.The song has been recorded by many other artists, including hit versions by RITA  in 1978 and Boyzone in 1996. This was Boyzone’s fifth single and their first number one hit in the UK. Words is a song by the Bee Gees, written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. It cross around 12,876,555 views on youtube.
Day 24 song challenge: Your least favourite song
“Smack That”
was released as the first single from Konvicted on September 26, 2006. Commercially, the song reached number one on ten record charts and peaked inside the top ten in nine, including the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number two. It received several gold and platinum certifications and sold over 3 million downloads in the United States. The song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
Day 25 song challenge : if you love someone
“I Wanna Love You” is a song written and recorded by Akon featuring Snoop Dogg. It was released in September 2006 as the second single from his second studio album, Konvicted. It is also featured on Snoop Dogg’s eighth album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatmet. This song was Akon’s first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also Snoop’s second #1 on the same chart. It also reached a peak of #3 on the UK Singles Chart. The track originally had Akon as a featured artist and was performed by Plies, then an up-and-coming rapper from Fort Myers, Florida, but his verse was replaced by Snoop’s and his name has been left out from the writers’ credits. This song was #88 on MTV Asia’s list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung  Collaboration at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.
Day  26 song challenge : A song you never get tired of
Gustavo Cerati — Puente: Very poetic this song and Cerati as a good representative of Rock en Español (Latin Rock), he left us a very beautiful legacy in the world of music. (August 11, 1959 – September 4, 2014) was a guitarist, singer, musician, composer and Argentine record producer of Latin rock. He began his career as the leader of the band Soda Stereo for after developing a solo career.
Day 27 song challenge: A song that you can play on an instrument
Substance
Substance is double CD, double cassette and Digital Audio tape. It sold over one million copies and became New Order’s most popular and critically acclaimed album.
It is the companion to a similar singles compilation by New Order’s predecessor band Joy division also entitled Substance.
Day 28: A song that makes Fun of
Curtain call : – Eminem The song was released on December 6 of 2005 by American Rapper Eminem . The album was certified septuple platinum in the United States and quintuple platinum in New Zealand. It reached number one on several charts, including the US Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart.
Day 29 song challenge: A song you like with a number on the title
The Smashing Pumpkins — 1979:
The song was released on early years  1988 -1991 .It has around 109,917,324 view on youtube channel and over 499 K likes with 485 k subscribers on youtube channel . On April 26, 2011, Corgan announced that the Smashing Pumpkins would be releasing a new album titled Oceania, which he labeled as “an album within an album” in regards to the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, in the fall. As with the previous recording sessions, all four band members contributed to the project. Also, the entire album catalog was to be remastered and reissued with bonus tracks, starting with Gish and Siamese Dream in November 2011.
Day 30: A song that you used to love but now hate
Hybrid Theory I used to like this song along with some other Linkin Park stuff. Now I see the error of my ways. Linkin Park are possibly the most over-rated band in the world. The music that would ultimately become the Hybrid Theory album was first produced by Linkin Park in 1999 as a nine-track demo tape. The band sent this tape to various recording companies and played forty-two different showcases for recording industry representatives, including performances for Los Angeles promoter and impresario, Mike Galaxy’s showcase at The Gig on Melrose.
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sinceileftyoublog · 6 years
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Live Picks: 6/15-6/17
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Self Defense Family
BY JORDAN MAINZER
This weekend sees Taste of Randolph, an unexpectedly good booking at Winnetka Music Festival, and as usual, lots of good club and outdoor theater shows.
6/15: Bitchin Bajas, Hungry Brain
We’re big fans of local experimental heroes Bitchin Bajas here at SILY. They’ve given great, organ, synth, guitar, and woodwind-heavy sets at Pitchfork Music Festival and the MCA, and their most recent album Bajas Fresh was one of our favorites of last year. They’re on quite the streak, their self-titled record and collaboration with Bonnie “Prince” Billy preceding Bajas Fresh, cementing the band as one of the most forward-thinking in the country, let alone Chicago. They continue to do their thing at Hungry Brain tonight.
Local guitarist/synth master Sam Wagster opens.
6/15: Kendrick Lamar, SZA, ScHoolboyQ, & Ab-Soul, Hollywood Casino Ampitheatre
To Pimp a Butterfly. Untitled Unmastered. DAMN. Besides Young Thug, Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar (ed. note: It feels so good to type that) is the only person to appear on all of SILY’s year-end lists. That says more about Lamar being prolific than anything else, not to take away from the quality of his art. In addition to being a master storyteller, he’s the best live performer in hip hop today. To see him alone is essential. To see him along with his fellow TDE label-mates is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
SZA, one of the best breakouts of last year, occupied our #17 spot with CTRL. Contributor Lauren Lederman described it as “an album that explores the electricity, the beauty, the messiness, and the self-consciousness of present-day relationships” as well as “a close examination of modern sex and romance that doesn’t hold back.” Judging solely from her Grammy performance, she should have the vocal chops to bring a headline-worthy performance, permanent damage aside.
Blank Face LP, the fourth album from ScHoolboyQ, was his best. It didn’t have any obvious standouts like “Hands on the Wheel”, one of the best rap songs of the decade (though the Kanye West-featuring “That Part” comes close). But it was more cohesive than his previous records, and decidedly darker, going through his scars with less humor than before. He announced last year that he would release yet another album, which still doesn’t seem to be quite done. Apparently, he recorded around 50 songs for it. Hopefully, he’s whittling it down to the best, showing more curatorial restraint than the aforementioned previous “That Part” collaborator. 
I’ve always felt somewhat bad for Ab-Soul. The rapper’s breakout, 2012′s Control System, was sort of left in the TDE/Black Hippy dust when Lamar and ScHoolboyQ released bigger records (though I’ll take Control System over Habits & Contradictions any day). He’s followed it up with inferior albums that are still good but therefore finds himself billed 5th here. If you’re going to this, be sure to arrive early to catch this heady MC.
Rappers Jay Rock and Lance Skiiiwalker and singer SiR also open.
6/15: Brandi Carlile, Chicago Theatre
Alt-country folk rocker Brandi Carlile has been releasing great records since 2005, when she released her self-titled debut. 2007′s The Story had a title track anthem that found its way onto films and TV shows, as well as a low-key emotional centerpiece “Turpentine”. In 2009, she released the Americana-tinged Give Up The Ghost Americana-tinged and followed it up with the gospel-infused Bear Creek in 2012. Her last two, 2015′s The Firewatcher’s Daughter and 2018′s By The Way, I Forgive You were steps down as a whole but still had great songs, namely singles “Wherever Is Your Heart” and vocal powerhouse performance “The Joke”. While her set should be heavy on the new record, she’s an incredible talent, seemingly able to conjure the weariness that pervades her best songs on a dime when performing live.  
Americana duo The Secret Sisters open.
6/15: Low Cut Connie, Winnetka Music Festival
Low Cut Connie’s new album Dirty Pictures Pt. 2 is a lot like their other albums: retro and emotive, sometimes for the sake of it. But the live show of Adam Weiner and company continues to be the main draw for seeing them--including their plethora of classic covers. They play at 7:00 P.M. at the BMO Harris stage.
6/16: Asleep at the Wheel, Old Town School of Folk Music
Austin-via-Paw Paw country band Asleep at the Wheel combine traditional western swing with Texas country. Lately, they’re known for their tribute albums to Bob Willis and The Texas Playboys, the most recent record released in 2015. Not to say the band doesn’t have great original music--they’ve been releasing records since the early 70′s, and have about 30 to their name. Take a listen to “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” and “Miles and Miles of Texas”. 
6/16: Alison Krauss, Ravinia
While her soundtrack performances and Grammy Award-winning collaboration with Robert Plant was what got her noticed beyond the oft-insular world of Americana, Alison Krauss is a great bluegrass singer and musician even when performing solo or with her band Union Station. While last year’s Windy City wasn’t necessarily up to snuff with her classics, it was still a solid entry in her ever-expanding catalog.
Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel opens.
6/16: Self Defense Family, Beat Kitchen
Self Defense Family is one of the more varied and ambitious bands to come out of this recent batch of emo bands. Their 2014 album Try Me was notable for half of its duration being due to a 40-minute interview with porn actress Angelique Bernstein, wherein she talks about the abuse she’s received over the years. (It was like the most interesting This American Life episode ever.) Later this month, the band will release Have You Considered Punk Music and have so far released the title track and "The Supremacy of Pure Artistic Feeling", a track that sees vocalist Patrick Kindlon reflect on the isolating nature of creativity and his decade-plus of music making. Both new tracks are typical of the band--wiry, emotional, and slow-burning.
Brooklyn experimental metal band Sannhet and local post-rockers RLYR open.
6/17: Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Jay Pritzker Pavilion
We previewed Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters at Riviera back in February. Here’s what we had to say about them then:
“At this point, pretty much anybody who vaguely pays attention to guitar music knows about Robert Plant’s full-fledged transition from classic rocker to old folk fogey–Raising Sand, his collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, won them Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. But lesser known and just as solid are Plant’s two albums with his new-ish band The Sensational Space Shifters, 2014′s Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar and last year’s Carry Fire, which allowed Plant to bend beyond the traditions of rock, bluegrass, or folk, incorporating elements of Arabic and North African influence into his arsenal. Luckily, however, for Zeppelin fans, Plant tends to mix beloved rock radio classics in with his newer material, overall making for a set that exudes old school songwriting, familiarity, and warmth whether you’ve heard the new songs or not.”
Chicago favorite Jon Langford opens.
6/15-6/17: Taste of Randolph
Avoid the bros and the overpriced food. Go for the music. Taste of Randolph has its best lineup in years. Headliners include guitarist/singer-songwriter Trevor Hall and goofy soul revivalist Mayer Hawthorne on Friday, Chicano Batman and soul singer Allen Stone on Saturday night, and The Devil Makes Three and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real on Sunday night (which seems odd considering how much overlap there probably is within their respective fan bases).
With last year’s Freedom Is Free, Chicano Batman found their deserved audience, playing at major music festivals and one late night TV. (It was our #41 album of last year.) There are synths, organ, and guitars aplenty, but nothing can surpass the Latin rhythms and enthusiasm of front-man Bardo Martinez. They’ll make Randolph Street the place to be for the first time in a long time on Saturday night.
When we previewed their Concord Music Hall show in January, we lamented the lack of an original material Devil Makes Three album in years. Thankfully, they’ve now announced Chains Are Broken and have debuted the upbeat, funky “Paint My Face”, which they’ll play among I’m A Stranger Here and Redemption & Ruin favorites.
Forget their film soundtracks with Neil Young--it’s Promise of the Real’s self-titled album with Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son) last year that was their best. They should play lots of that album on Sunday night, though Nelson did co-produce Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born remake (and play his backing band). Maybe they’ll throw off the foodie crowd with some musical numbers. (I doubt it.)
Everything Everything also play Sunday. While we found last year’s A Fever Dream more smart than enjoyable, it’ll be thrilling to hear live performances of the title track and “Night of the Long Knives”. The band also released an EP earlier this year, including songs like the skittering, catchy, and yes, overcooked “Breadwinner” and the subtle, soft, chugging ballad “The Marina”.
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itsiotrecords-blog · 7 years
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I don’t want to say I live for celebrity feuds, but I friggin’ live for celebrity feuds. I mean, there’s nothing better than two rich, beautiful, successful people throwing veiled insults at each other through tweets or comments during interviews. The most current celebrity feud involves Taylor Swift, because almost every single celebrity feud involves Taylor Swift. I’m sure Taylor Swift is a nice girl and all, but she’s constantly in a scuffle with someone. On second thought, I’m not so sure Taylor is actually a nice girl, considering the fact that she’s built a career around writing tell-all songs about her ex-boyfriends, which include John Mayer, Joe Jonas, and Harry Styles. She’s also feuded with Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Demi Lovato. But, you can’t blame her. Girlfriend needs material for her songs, y’all. The Taylor feud we’re talking about this week is her showdown with Katy Perry, a showdown that is taking place in a very public arena, as the ladies keep releasing songs about one another. I mean, POP THE POPCORN, right? This is the sh*t I live for. How exactly did Taylor Swift and Katy Perry come to be enemies? I’ll cover all of that below in the complete timeline of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry’s feud to end all feuds.
#1 2008 – 2010: The Friendship Begins This feud began the way all the best feuds begin: with two women who were very close friends. Quite frankly, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift’s relationship was always a powder keg of sorts, because they were not only close friends, but they were close friends working in the same industry. It’s hard not to get competitive. But, for a long time, the ladies were not competitive. The first photograph of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift (along with Miley Cyrus) was taken at the 2008 MTV Music Awards. The photo is actually a sweet reminder of the gentler time in the music industry, when Taylor had curly hair and Miley hadn’t yet twerked. In 2009, their love was also confirmed via Taylor’s tweet reading, “Watching the Waking up in Vegas video. I love Katy Perry. I think I’m going to hang her poster on my wall now.” Suck up, much? Katy Perry was flattered though, and responded with, “@taylorswift13 You’re as sweet as pie! Let’s write a song together about the subject we know best… for my new record. It’ll be brilliant~” With a few tweets, the friendship was formed. The above photo of Taylor and Katy simply loving each other is from the 2010 Grammy Awards. Basically, 2008 through 2010 was a nice time in the Katy and Taylor saga.
#2 2010: Taylor Swift Dates John Mayer As far back as 2010, Taylor was already working on her reputation of being the music industry’s most bitter ex-girlfriend. Actually, she began working on the reputation as far back as 2008, when she dated Joe Jonas, broke up with him, wrote song about it, and revealed the details of the breakup on Ellen. In 2010, Taylor then dated John Mayer, because everyone in Hollywood dates John Mayer. At just 19 years old, Taylor dating John Mayer was like her announcing she was a woman. It was her first grown up boyfriend, which she followed up with a relationship with Jake Gylenhaal. While Taylor’s relationship with Mayer is just a drop in the bucket, we all also know that Taylor loves HARD. This little John Mayer blimp on the radar screen will come back to haunt us all… just as dating John Mayer seems to always do.
#3 2011: Still BFF The gal pals remained close through this whole time. It seemed that neither them nor all of us innocent fans knew what was to come. In April 2010, Katy even hopped on stage with Taylor and the pair sang “Hot N Cold.” Follwing this, Taylor tweeted, “Surprise guest at Staples Center: @katyperry!! We sang Hot N Cold and jumped up and down a lot. Katy! LA! I will always love you!” Oh, Taylor. You won’t always love her. But, that’s okay. You didn’t know better back then. The above photo is from the 2011 American Music Awards, at which Taylor beat Katy for the Artist of the Year Award. While this may have sparked some competition in their friendship, by the looks of the women, Katy seemed genuinely happy for Taylor. Little did they know that sh*t was about to hit the fan.
#4 2012: Katy Perry Dates John Mayer HERE. WE. GO. Following her marriage to Russell Brand, Katy Perry rebounded with John Mayer. For the record, ladies, John Mayer is not worth starting a girl war over. But, it’s never been confirmed that John Mayer is the source of their animosity. In fact, the rumored source of their catfight is a whole other factor, which we’ll discuss in the next slide. Anyway, even though Taylor and Katy have denied this feud is over a guy, the fact that they both dated John Mayer, along with the fact that we all know Taylor is a bitter, bitter ex, makes us think that John Mayer has to play into their hate just a little bit. In an odd change of pace, John Mayer recently admitted that he wrote the song “Still Feel Like Your Man” about Katy Perry. Is Taylor’s head just exploding somewhere? Taylor has made a career of writing breakup songs and one of her exes is penning love ballads about Katy Perry. Oh, the irony.
#5 2012: The Dancer Drama Supposedly, this epic feud started because of dancer drama and NOT John Mayer. So, let’s talk about the dancer drama. In 2012, three of Katy Perry’s backup dancers received spots on Taylor’s world tour to promote Red. While on Taylor’s tour, Katy Perry reached out to those three dancers to see if they were interested in her 2013 world tour for Prism, but that would mean that they would have to leave Taylor’s world tour before it’s completion. The three dancers agreed to skip out on the end of Taylor’s tour in order to join Katy Perry’s tour. There is so much meat here. Taylor stole Katy’s dancers, and then Katy stole them back. ALL THE DRAMA.
#6 2013: Prism Comes Out In 2013, Katy released Prism and went on her world tour to promote the album. Prism was a success, which probably just add fuel to the flames. If Taylor and Katy are not on good terms, the only thing that could pissed Taylor off more would be to see Katy crushin’ it in their shared profession, right? What did the three dancers at the heart of this drama have to say about it? In an interview, one of the dancers, Lockhart Brownlie, explained, “Obviously we were with Katy for two and a half years, she’s like family to us. So we were, like, ‘Absolutely’. We weren’t really dancing in Taylor’s tour anyway, so I had got a little bored and I really wanted to do a promo tour.” To say he got a little bit BORED on Taylor’s tour seems like a burn, no? Brownlie went on to say, “Taylor is very untouchable. When we did see her, we had so much fun with her, but she’s a lot more protected than Katy.” Clearly, the dancers are Team Katy. After finding out that the dancers were leaving her tour, Taylor stopped following them on Twitter and removed them from the tour.
#7 2014: 1989 Comes Out If Katy Perry puts out a hit album, clearly Taylor Swift needs to put out a hit album. Taylor did just that with 1989. Actually, to say 1989 was a hit is an understatement. 1989 was a MEGA, MEGA hit. It was the best-selling album of 2014. It also received critical acclaim, with publications such as Time and Rolling Stone ranking it as one of the best albums of the year. Taylor also went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. So, yeah. 1989 ruled all of 2014. The album featured seven singles, which is – again – huge in terms of an album. One of the singles was, of course, “Bad Blood,” y’know the little song that lit up this feud.
#8 2014: DRAMA Taylor’s “Bad Blood” could have been about a number of people. “Bad Blood” could have been about Demi Lovato, with whom she’s had a publicly strained relationship after Selena Gomez started hanging out with Taylor more than Demi. The song could have been about Kanye West, who famously stole the mic when she won Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs. By the way, that has to be one of the most epic things to ever happen, right? What a time to be alive, guys! Instead of letting people speculate about who “Bad Blood” was about, Taylor made it pretty clear. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Taylor said, “For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not. She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?'” She didn’t stop there. Taylor went on to say, “She did something so horrible. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re just straight-up enemies’. And it wasn’t even about a guy! It had to do with business… She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I’m surprisingly non-confrontational – you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it.” I have to call bullsh*t here. Taylor Swift did not become THAT successful by the age of 27 if she’s “surprisingly non-confrontational.” No way. She’s a confrontation queen and a girl boss. Like all other girl bosses, Taylor understands branding and marketing. She’s just marketing herself as non-confrontational. She’s playing the victim, because that’s her brand. I mean, good business move but Taylor is ruthless and confrontational. Let us never forget that.
#9 2014 – 2015: The Gathering Of The Squad The day after the Rolling Stone interview was released, Katy Perry tweeted, “Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing…” That has to be about Taylor, right? RIGHT?! Just in case you’ve forgotten, Regina George was Rachel McAdams’ character in Mean Girls, who was the ringleaders of the mean girls, The Plastics. Speaking of ringleaders… Taylor Swift suddenly had a squad. It seemed that Taylor’s group of friends extended to everyone in Hollywood, and I really do mean everyone. There’s obviously Taylor’s long-time BFF Selena Gomez. There’s also Karlie Kloss, a model with whom Taylor has been friends with for forever. Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, and Ruby Rose are all in the group as well. Basically, if you’re young, hot and rich, you are in. But, the group extend to some odd entries, like Lena Dunham. Sure, they’re both writers, so Lena Dunham and Taylor probably have things in common, but their friendship seems like one of the less likely ones. The most random addition may be Mariska Hargitay, of Law and Order fame. How that friendship came to be is beyond me. While I’m totally down with female friendships, Taylor’s squad more seems like armor. By publicly becoming friends with some many people in Hollywood, Taylor is making herself untouchable. It should come as no surprise that Taylor then cast nearly her WHOLE squad appeared in the “Bad Blood” music video. The message of this is loud and clear: Taylor’s friends with all of these people so bye, Katy.
#10 2015: Nicki Minaj Is Here How do you make a feud even better? Throw in more people! Nicki Minaj was not too excited about the 2015 MTV VMA nominations. She had been outspoken about her disappointment that “Anaconda” failed to receive a Video of the Year or Best Choreography nomination. Minaj even tweeted, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.” While she didn’t directly say anything, Taylor assumed this was about her “Bad Blood” music video… because “Bad Blood” features all slim, mostly white women. Taylor – who previously said how “non-confrontational” she is in that famed Rolling Stone interview – tweeted, “@NICKIMINAJ I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..” The pair went back and forth with veiled and passive aggressive tweets. In the middle of this, Katy Perry took this moment to tweet, “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…” In that tweet, Katy is musing on Taylor’s newfound desire to not pit women against one another, all the while Taylor has capitalized on her feud with Katy Perry by writing songs about it.
#11 2016: Are They Cool? It seemed like all had calmed down for a short while. “Bad Blood” won the VMA for Video of the Year and everyone had gone their separate ways. All was well in Hollywood because it seemed that the storm between Katy Perry and Taylor Swift had calmed. There were even small moments that seemed like peace treaties of sorts. Katy Perry placed Taylor Swift on the A-list guestlist for a private Grammy Awards party called An Evening to Celebrate the Creators. It was a Spotify event that both women attended, though there is no indication that they spoke to one another. There was also the Met Gala, which is like the high school prom for fashion’s elite. Both Katy Perry and Taylor Swift were in attendance. Taylor was actually the co-chair that year, which is important. That means that if Taylor really wanted to, she could have blackballed Katy, but she didn’t. Were these invites the waving of the white flag?
#12 2016: Calvin Harris Gets In On It Since Taylor Swift must seemingly always be feuding with someone, she broke up with Calvin Harris to move onto Tom Hiddleston very, very quickly. Cut to a huge and very public Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift fight. The feud centered on the fact that Taylor’s team announced that she was the co-writer on “This is What You Came For.” Calvin’s issue was not with the fact that Taylor took credit for her work, but the manner with which she did it, as it painted him as the bad guy. In a now-deleted tweet, Calvin Harris even said, “I know you’re off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I’m not that guy, sorry. I won’t allow it.” WOWZERS. Calvin Harris actually said that Taylor tried to BURY Katy. Katy tweeted a cryptic GIF, but clearly she was Team Calvin Harris.
#13 2016: Kim K Has The Receipts, Guys! Honestly, the Kim Kardashian/Taylor Swift feud almost made us forget about the Katy Perry feud, because Tay Tay facing off with Kim K is PURE GOLD. Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift were always on fine terms publicly. They had been spotted many times exchanging pleasantries. There’s quite a few photos of them online. It even seemed that all was well between Taylor and Kim K’s hubby, Kanye West, who had sent Taylor flowers that she then posted to Instagram. Then, Kanye’s “Famous” came out, which had lyrics stating, “For all my Southside n****s that know me best/I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous/Goddamn/I made that bitch famous.” After the Internet reacted to those lyrics, Kanye cleared things up, saying both Taylor and Kim approved of the scandalous lyrics. Taylor denied approving the lyrics and even said she cautioned him against releasing a song with such a misogynistic message. At the 2016 Grammy Aways, Taylor won Album of the Year and took the moment to make a not-so-veiled dig at Kanye by stating, “[A]s the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” In June 2016’s GQ, Kim K was interviewed and dished about Taylor, saying how unfair it is that she gave Kanye permission and is now lying about it. Then, Kim K used her biggest weapon of all: social media. She took to Snapchat and posted videos of the phone conversation between Kanye West and Taylor Swift, during which Taylor very much gives Kanye West permission to use those lyrics. Taylor even says, “It’s like a compliment.” At this point, the entire world was on fire. Well, not really, but #KimExposedTaylorParty was tending and everyone had something to say about it. Kim K kept the receipts, y’all. Katy Perry seemingly stayed out of this feud… but she used it to her advantage later.
#14 2017: Swish Swish After the whole Kim Kardashian bomb, Taylor Swift disappeared. Like, she went into some serious hiding. But, who can blame her? Taylor had, at this point, very much made a career out of playing the victim. With her victim façade shattered by Kim Kardashian’s huge reveal, Taylor needed to regroup. While she’s started posting to social media again, Taylor is still very much staying out of the spotlight right now. She’d reportedly working on a new album, which one can only assume will be all about Kim K and Kanye. OH, I CANNOT WAIT. Katy Perry, however, is not in hiding. In fact, she’s busy adding to the feud with her latest single, “Swish Swish,” which features none other than Nicki Minaj. Are all of Taylor’s send offs going to band together to take her down? If so, that would be amazing. I would LIVE for that drama. But, back to “Swish Swish,” which features such lines as: “You’re about as cute as an old coupon, expired.” (BURN.) “Funny my name keep coming out your mouth, ’cause I stay winnin’.” “Karma’s not a liar, she keeps receipts.” Guys… Karma… is Kim K, right? Because Kim K kept the receipts, RIGHT? See, we told you that Katy would later use the Kim K feud to her advantage.
#15 2017: Ruby Rose Is Not Here For That Because Taylor brilliantly assembled a very public army of besties who will defend her until the day she dies, Ruby Rose was the first to speak out against Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish.” Though, fans on Twitter were quick to point out to Ruby Rose that Taylor also pens songs that take down other women. Ah, Taylor, you’ve made it really hard for your besties to speak out against girl vs. girl takedown songs. Where do Taylor Swift and Katy Perry go from here? It’s likely that Taylor’s next album will throw shade back at Katy Perry. And then, Katy Perry will do the same with her next album, and so on and so forth until one of them dies. The likelihood of this feud coming to an end any time soon is slim, and that’s because the feud is that it’s actually great publicity for the both of them. With people speculating if their songs are about each other, their music gains easy popularity. It creates automatic notoriety for them. It’s also a way to stay in the tabloids without dating someone new, going through a breakup, getting pregnant or going through a breakdown. Actually, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift’s feud may be the greatest thing to have happened to both their careers. So, keep on fighting, ladies. We’ll all be here for whatever happens next.
Source: TheRichest
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