Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" Video is All Kinds of Good
There are very few subjects I can say I'm well versed in, but when I get the opportunity to gush about them you can be sure I'm going to tell you all about it. The venn diagrams of my interests rarely cross over, but now that we've got a Taylor Swift music video featuing all sorts of science fiction nods, I'm not sure what to do with myself. Although the country community felt the sting of when Taylor Swift decided her latest album, 1989, was going to be an all-pop production, and many more felt the loss when she removed her music from Spotify, it's hard to fault her when she's having so much fun in all of her music videos.
This one for her latest single "Bad Blood" (featuring a remix from Kendrick Lamar) tops all of her other craziness so far. Directed by Joseph Kahn (from Detention and that Power/Rangers fan video from a few weeks back) We've got numerous shout outs to sci-fi films like The Fifth Element, Sucker Punch, Mad Max, and awesome cameos from Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Hailee Steinfeld, Ellie Goulding, Zendaya, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevingne, Ellen Pompeo, Mariska Hargitay, and f**king Cindy Crawford.
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I've been a big advocate for wacky music videos all my life. In fact, I think wackier music videos actually saved music artists in the digital age thanks to how much sharing through social media accounts for notoriety now. Taylor Swift just gets that.
Take the video for "Blank Space" (which was one of my Top 10 Pop Songs of 2014) for instance. Such a goofy video for an admittedly generic song helped launch her into several blogs like this one. Although she really doesn't need more attention, she gets it by taking risks. Swift plays around with the visual landscape in order to get your attention (and thus, your all important clicks) because she's got enough pull to do so. She's at the point in her career where she can't really make a bad decision, and can experiment with her brand. It's sort of like how Nicki Minaj gets crazy sexual in each of her videos, yet never quite goes over the line of decency in order to further get her name out there. Nothing the two artists do actually hurt their brand, and if an experiment fails (like Minaj's unfortunate "Nazi" video or Swift's slightly racist "Shake It Off" video) they bounce back.
Where Swift ultimately succeeds is her "pop princess" persona. It sort of brings down the fun in the "Bad Blood" video (it'd be much better if she didn't perform it and just let it all play out), but her "happy go lucky" style really works wonders for how weird she's taking 1989. I can't wait to see what she does next.
[The Weekly Swarm] 5/11 - 5/17
Last week was full of TV-related surprises, wasn't it? First, we found out that American Idol was getting canceled (and it's about time no less), then we found out that Simpsons vet Harry Shearer was leaving the show over a contract dispute. Speaking about contracts, we'll be getting more Rosario Dawson when Marvel's Daredevil (and the rest of the Marvel/Netflix series) returns. What about Riot Fest being named the best music festival in the country by USA Today and 10Best? That was pretty cool, but not as cool as our list of 10 badass superheroines and supervillains!
...I can go on and on, but rather than ramble, how about I let you take a look at all of last week's content in our latest edition of The Weekly Swarm?
Chicago's "Historic" Torture Reparations Package
10 Badass Superheroines and Supervillains in Comics
[Tribeca Review] Democrats
[Trailer] Jem and the Holograms
Spike Lee's Chicago Film Will Be a Musical Comedy
[Weekly Netflix Fix] The Sixth Sense
[Review] Mad Max: Fury Road
[Tribeca] Bodyslam: Revenge of the Banana! Shows Why Some Wrestling Gimmicks Succeed and Others Fail
[Review] ANIMALS
[SXSW Interview] Kim Shaw, David Dastmalchian, and Collin Schiffli (ANIMALS)
30 Years, 30 Death Metal Albums: 1985-1994
American Idol Ending After Next Season
[Review] Melt-Banana: "Return of 13 Hedgehogs"
USA Today and 10Best Name Riot Fest Best Music Festival
[American Idol-izer] Top 2 Perform
Widespread Panic Headlining North Coast Music Festival 2015
The American Idol Season 14 Winner Is...
[Contest] Meet Yelawolf at Shuga Records (5/19)
American Idol Ending After Next Season
Rosario Dawson Signs Exclusive TV Contract with Marvel and Netflix
Why RuPaul's Drag Race is the Best Reality Show on TV
[American Idol-izer] Top 2 Perform
The Simpsons Loses Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, etc.)
The American Idol Season 14 Winner Is...
[Weekly Netflix Fix] The Sixth Sense
[Contest] Meet Yelawolf at Shuga Records (5/19)
Yelawolf is returning to Chicago next Tuesday, May 19th, for a meet and greet at Shuga Records (1272 N. Milwaukee Ave.). However, you'll have to purchase a copy of his latest album, Love Story, to do so. Luckily, we're giving away a pair of wristbands and copies of Love Story to one lucky Yelawolf fan.
To enter, simply follow us on Twitter and RT this tweet:
Win a copy of Love Story and a chance to meet @Yelawolf in Chicago next Tuesday. Details here: http://t.co/WloWV35TmD pic.twitter.com/c1OIvM2YP8
— Ruby Hornet (@RubyHornet) May 15, 2015
We'll select one winner by 11:59pm CT on Monday, May 18th.
To tide you over the weekend, watch Yelawolf's latest video for "Best Friend" with Eminem.
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The American Idol Season 14 Winner Is...
Since this is the second to last finale American Idol will ever get to celebrate, they went for the completely awesome "kitchen sink" method. The finale was full of so many weird choices that perfectly reflect the show's constant struggle to appeal to millenials while refusing to get rid of its old fashioned ways. You had the terrible kid Daniel Seavey performing with New Kids on the Block, Pitbull showed up in like three different performances (with Chris Brown and then Prince Royce), three of the Jackson 5 members sang with another child Tyanna Jones, Janelle Monae slayed with her weird new single (which is completely different from anything she's done so far), Jamie Foxx performed with Rayvon, Fall Out Boy was there for some reason, Vance Joy didn't let Quentin sing much, Jax finally got some closure from her terribly quick elimination after her performance proved she was better than the remaining two finalists, Ford cars were given away weirdly while Season 12 winner Candice Glover sadly stood in the background unacknowledged, Clark Beckham sang with Michael McDonald and it worked way better than you'd think, and finally Nick Fradiani sang with a guy I swear was his twin.
Suffice to say, it was a weird, weird show to cap off such an awkward growing season. As Scott Borchetta stated, the winner this season will present at the Country Music Awards and perform at the Country Music Television awards. So I'm sure the winner will have a very solid country album. After hearing all of that, I'm so glad Jax didn't win since she's way too interesting to be forced into a country holding. Okay, that's enough stalling.
The winner of American Idol Season 14 is...
...Nick Fradiani.
I had predicted he'd take the title after he seemed to pick the right three songs to perform during the final round, and as I said in that article, Nick's going to do pretty much what his new label, Big Machine Records, tells him to do. After Clark Beckham fought with the man in charge to keep his musicality, he was sent into a down spiral from which he never quite recovered. All the while Nick was the Little Engine that Could just kept chugging along at the same pace, never changing his style or performances, and never causing a ruckus.
As quite possibly the most boring American Idol winner in its 14 season history, Nick will paradoxically make a ton of money over a long career. America eats that up with a damn spoon. If he can fare better than Season 12 "winner" Candice Glover or Season 13 "winner" Caleb Johnson (who both weren't invited to sing at their successor's finales), Nick could be okay. We'll just have to wait until next year to see what the final season has in store.
Widespread Panic Headlining North Coast Music Festival 2015
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This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
North Coast Music Festival (NCMF) is thrilled to announce WIDESPREAD PANIC as the surprise headliner for this year’s festival! The legendary Southern rock jam band has remained in Pollstar’s Top 50 Tours of the Year for the past decade, and continues to be one of the most relevant touring entities on the live music scene after almost 30 years. 2015 marks a special year for the band as they announced the release of their first studio album in five years. This spring WP embarks on a highly anticipated nationwide tour in celebration of their first studio release since Dirty Side Down in 2010.
For more information on NCMF visit here.
[American Idol-izer] Top 2 Perform
After weeks of auditions, pulled sponsorships, label changes, throwing fun contestants under the bus, the final performances are here at last. Thanks to the announcement that American Idol is ending next season, the final two contestants performances are unfortunately under a more rigorous microscope than usual. It's definitely unfair to them, but then again, the show's always been kind of unfair. I'm sure the news will pull in some more viewers than usual this final week, at least. But if last night was indicative of what we could look forward to for the final season, I'm not sure what to do anymore.
At the top of the hour, due to the weird scheduling shenanigans this season (which I hope get fixed next go around), the Top 3 was whittled down to the final two as Jackie "Jax" Cole was eliminated. I considered the fact that Jax might unceremoniously be let go in third place, but I never thought it could actually happen. I was as broken up as she seemed to be, and the thought of yet another interesting contestant going home instead of the plain white dudes hurt so much. Only serving to reinforce how boring this season has been, Jax was sent home without getting to perform her possible coronation song. It's a damn, damn shame and only helps AI's naysayers.
So a very boring final bout between Nick Fradiani and Clark Beckham, we got three songs: Encore of a favorite performance (or "Flashback"), one chosen by series creator Simon Fuller, and the final winner's coronation song. Read on for the recap.
Gonna miss you, Jax.
USA Today and 10Best Name Riot Fest Best Music Festival
This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
Riot Fest has consistently been Chicago's best music festival for the past few years, and finally, the festival has been recognized for doing so. USA Today and 10Best have named Riot Fest the country's Best Music Festival as voted by fans, beating out other festivals like Electric Forest Festival and Bonnaroo. Notable music festivals like Chicago's Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin City Limits, and SXSW, and California's Coachella didn't make the Top 10.
The accolades come at an uncomfortable time for Riot Fest organizers as they are currently facing some backlash from some Humboldt Park residents and Ald. Roberto Maldonado over the damage caused to the park from last year's festival. A change.org petition was recently started to keep the festival at Humboldt Park, but it appears that it's been taken down. Nevertheless, despite any opposition, Riot Fest has plenty of support. Being named the country's best music festival goes to show just how much the festival and its organization have grown over the past 10 years. Here's to 10 more!
[via 10Best]
[Review] Melt-Banana: "Return of 13 Hedgehogs"
When you're an independent punk-ish band that's been around for 20+ years, a long catalog of splits and singles are amassed over time... especially when a lot of your early catalog features songs that clocked in at an average of 90 seconds. Over their long career, Melt-Banana has entranced (and confused) many an ear, and ahead of their upcoming, two-part North American tour comes their second compilation album, Return of 13 Hedgehogs. Amassed from non-album singles and splits recorded/released from 2000 - 2009, Return of 13 Hedgehogs serves as a fitting swan song to the band's illustrious past.
As alluded to, Return of 13 Hedgehogs is Melt-Banana's sophomore compilation album with the name derived from the band's penchant of calling their singles "hedgehogs." The singles were recorded during a decade in which the band went from a lo-fi grindcore style (Teeny Shiny) to their first foray into a hi-fi, increasingly techno/pop sound (Cell-Scape) to a near-complete transition to their style of pop (Bambi's Dilemma) to the band's unofficial live debut as a duo experimenting with synthesizers and samples (Melt-Banana Lite Live Ver 0.0). As can be imagined, Return of 13 Hedgehogs reflects all of these stylistic changes across the album's 29 songs. What's more interesting are the band's songs that were featured on splits with other bands of varying styles ranging from the ska-punk style of Big D and the Kids Table to notable noisecore band The Locust, to name just a couple.
Melt-Banana is a very unique band, and this couldn't be expressed more clearly than by some of the covers they recorded, such as a tantalizing take on Italian singer Mina's "Tantarella Di Luna," ska standard "Monkey Man" by Toots and the Maytals, goth punk The Damned's "Love Song," and Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge." If 2013's fetch represents Melt-Banana's future, Return of 13 Hedgehogs is the perfect bookend to their past.