MANILA, Philippines—Toyama and Dwight Ramos failed to advance to the quarterfinals after losing to Kawasaki, 70-58, in the Japan Emperor’s Cup Wednesday at Todoroki Arena in the Kanagawa prefecture. Nick Fazekas led the Brave Thunders with 16 points and 15 rebounds as they now set up a matchup against Alvark Tokyo in the All-Japan Basketball […]
The post Dwight Ramos, Toyama miss Japan Emperor’s Cup quarterfinals appeared first on Inquirer Sports.
Halsey has recalled the experience of making ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ and its accompanying film at the same time, saying that they were “almost method acting my album”.
The singer-songwriter released her fourth studio effort over the summer alongside If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, an hour-long visual piece about “the lifelong social labyrinth of sexuality and birth”.
READ MORE: The NME Big Read – Halsey: “I’ve always been driven to reinvent myself and reinvent my genre”
Speaking in last week’s NME Big Read interview, Halsey explained: “I’ve wanted to do a film for an album since [debut album] ‘Badlands’ but, to be frank, I haven’t had the financial resources to do it.
“This was the thing where it was like, ‘OK, people want to give you money to make art – what are you going to make?’”
Halsey went on to recall how the movie influenced their latest record. “I was almost method acting my album, which I think is super douche-y but is what was happening,” they told NME.
Halsey on the cover of NME
“It was really cool to make a record in tandem that way because you’re not going back and drawing connections that aren’t there and trying to fill in holes to make stuff work. All of it is so cohesive and coherent the entire time.”
The singer said that making the film resulted in ‘If I Can’t Have Love…’ feeling like a concept album. “The most important thing to me is that this album has tension – it needs to be visceral, or I’m doing a disservice to the message,” she told NME.
Speaking of enlisting Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – who produced the LP – she remembered: “First of all, I thought I was writing a letter to Santa being like, ‘I’ve been a very good girl’.
“I was just really honest and said I was a huge fan and I’ve been plagiarising you guys for years – badly – and I’m not arrogant enough to believe that I have anything new to offer you, but this album is about pregnancy, gender identity, body horror.”
NME hailed Halsey for creating “an endlessly compelling artistic statement” with ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’. Check out our four-star review here.
Elsewhere in the Big Read interview, Halsey spoke about the honour of receiving the Innovation Award at the BandLab NME Awards 2022, which they will pick up during a ceremony at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on March 2.
Halsey told NME that she “wasn’t expecting” the award and was “very surprised” to be recognised with the nod. “But it’s really, really awesome,” she added.
The post Halsey on making new record and film simultaneously: “I was almost method acting my album” appeared first on NME.
Kehlani has confirmed in a new interview that they prefer to use she/they pronouns.
Earlier this year, singer updated their Twitter account to include their preference for she/they pronouns, and has now discussed the situation further.
Speaking to Byrdie Magazine this week (November 30), Kehlani confirmed their preferred choice of pronouns, saying: “I don’t mind when people say ‘she’ at all, but something feels really affirming when people say ‘they.’ It feels like… you really see me.”
Earlier this year, Kehlani opened up about both their sexuality and “straight-presenting” privilege, after coming out as a lesbian.
“Wanna know what’s new about me?” the singer asked in an Instagram Live video alongside photographer Jamie-Lee B. “I finally know I’m a lesbian.”
Kehlani. CREDIT: Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
The ‘Can I’ star also acknowledged that she carries “a lot of privilege” as someone who passes as a “cisgender-presenting, straight-presenting” figure in the industry.
“I think a lot of artists who we talk about and say, ‘Oh, they had to come out or they had to do this,’ a lot of them can’t hide it,” she said. “A lot of it is very [much] in how they present. It’s tougher for them. It’s tougher for trans artists. It’s tougher for Black gay men. It’s tougher for Black masculine gay women.”
Earlier this year, Kehlani confirmed details of her new album ‘Blue Water Road’ and shared a trailer for the record, which will follow 2020’s ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’.
A new single and accompanying music video, ‘Altar’, then followed days later. The video for ‘Altar’ features much of the imagery shown in the album teaser, showing Kehlani with a bloody and bandaged leg, and later dancing around a house in the countryside.
Kehlani’s second album ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’ came out last May. In a three-star review of the album, NME wrote: “It’s understandable for an artist to want to change their sound, but the problem with ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’ is that it loses sight of the sheer brilliance Kehlani has demonstrated on previous releases.
The post Kehlani confirms they want to go by she/they pronouns appeared first on NME.
Trevor Noah, who hosted the pandemic-delayed 63rd annual Grammy Awards on March 14, will return as host of the 64th annual telecast on Jan. 31, 2022.
“Trevor was amazing as our host for the 63rd Grammy Awards with praise from the music community, music fans and critics,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “We’re so excited to welcome Trevor back to the Grammys stage and feel fortunate to once again have him hosting what we believe will be an unforgettable evening.”
Noah, 37, who succeeded Jon Stewart as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show in 2015, will now match Stewart’s Grammy hosting record. Stewart hosted the show two years in a row exactly 20 years ago, in 2001-02.
Noah is the fourth consecutive Grammy host to be asked back for a second year. LL Cool J hosted five years running (2012-16). James Corden (2017-18) and Alicia Keys (2019-20) each hosted twice. It’s probably significant that three of the last four hosts have been Black, as the Recording Academy has made diversity a top priority in recent years.
The show is set to return to Crypto.com Arena, the new name of Staples Center in Los Angeles (as of Dec. 25). Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 63rd annual Grammy Awards were delayed from Jan. 31 to March 14 and were moved from Staples Center to the adjacent Los Angeles Convention Center, which allowed for less crowding.
The 64th annual Grammy Awards will air live on both coasts on Monday, Jan. 31, from 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT on CBS, and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Ben Winston, Jesse Collins and Raj Kapoor are executive producers; Kapoor also serves as showrunner. Jeannae Rouzan Clay joins the team as co-executive producer.
Hamish Hamilton, who succeeded Louis J. Horvitz as director last year, returns as director for the second year.
This is Winston’s sixth year in a row as a key member of the production team. He was consulting producer in 2017, producer in 2018, co-executive producer in 2019-20 and executive producer earlier this year, when he succeeded Ken Ehrlich, the show’s longtime executive producer. In January, Winston will share that title with Collins and Kapoor, who were producers in 2019-20 and co-executive producers earlier this year.
Prior to the 64th annual Grammy Awards telecast, the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will be held at the Microsoft Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on Grammy.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel.
The Recording Academy revealed nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards last week. This year’s top nominees are Jon Batiste (11), Justin Bieber (8), Doja Cat (8), H.E.R. (8), Billie Eilish (7) and Olivia Rodrigo (7).
Noah, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, may not be the only native of Africa on the Grammy stage: Wizkid, the Nigerian singer/songwriter, is a double Grammy nominee for best global music album (Made in Lagos: Deluxe Edition) and best global music performance (“Essence,” featuring Tems).
Megan Thee Stallion has canceled a hometown Houston show slated for Friday (Dec. 3) at the 713 Music Hall out of respect for the victims of last month’s Astroworld tragedy. “Out of respect for the lives lost in Houston earlier this month, I have decided to cancel my show at 713 Music Hall on Dec 3,” the rapper said in a statement shared with Billboard on Wednesday (Dec. 1).
“Houston is still healing and it’s important that our community be given the appropriate time to grieve. My heart goes out to all the families that are suffering during this difficult time,” she added. Ten people died and hundreds of others were injured in a crowd crush during Travis Scott‘s headlining set at the Houston show that drew 50,000 people to NRG Park.
Last month, Megan announced that she would be among the first performers to play at the new venue in her native city. “It’s always special to come back home and perform in front of my OG hotties,” Meg said in a statement. “I can’t wait to take the stage and celebrate the grand opening of 713 Music Hall — it’s going to be unforgettable!” The name of the LN-managed 5,000-capacity venue honors the city by borrowing its area code.
According to the release, the hall is locating in the city’s POST Houston downtown development project, which is transforming the historic Barbara Jordan Post Office into a hub for food, shopping, recreation and culture with a planned 100 events per year. The rapper’s show was slated to be followed by gigs from comedian Chelsea Handler, Daughtry, Midland, Khruangbin, Joss Stone and Erasure.
Spotify for Artists has launched its 2021 Artist Wrapped microsites, offering artists a look at how their music performed on the streaming platform over the past year — while also helping push their official merch pages on the platform.
Under its recently announced partnership with e-commerce company Shopify, Spotify will be incorporating artist merch into its Wrapped strategy for the first time. Over the next several weeks, Spotify listeners will be emailed a link to the Spotify merch page of their “top artist,” as listed in each fan’s Wrapped experience. To take part, artists must connect their Shopify merch store to Spotify and list at least one merch item by Dec. 2. If more than one item is listed, the first item the artist selects will be the one that gets emailed to fans.
For Spotify artists who aren’t on Shopify, the merch platform is currently offering a 90-day free trial, while the on-demand printing and fulfillment company Printful is offering 30% off the first two orders for artists looking to stock up on merch.
As always, each individually-tailored artist microsite will allow artists to view Spotify metrics for their music including total hours streamed; increases in followers, total listeners, streams and playlist adds; total number of top listeners; and total number of fans sharing the artist’s profile, albums and songs. Additionally, they can view the journey of their top track of the year, including how many streams it received, how it traveled around the world, the day on which it drew the most listeners at the same time, playlist adds and more.
Artist Wrapped boasts several additional new features this year. These include Audio Aura — described as a visualization of an artist’s songs based on the moods, genre and sounds associated with their music — and Throwback Track, which highlights the artist’s top catalog track. For the first time, artists will also be able to view all of their listed collaborators for the year.
As always, artists will have the option to download and post “share cards” on social media highlighting their Spotify stats. Share cards can now be translated into 31 different languages, with the option to download share cards in several different languages at once to create targeted messages for their fans across the globe.
Since launching Artist Wrapped in 2017, Spotify reports that the number of monthly active Spotify for Artists users during the Artist Wrapped time period increased by 670% through 2020, while traffic to Spotify for Artists on the day of Artist Wrapped launch increased 933% during the same time span. Additionally, visits to the Artist Wrapped microsites increased 1,381% between 2017 and 2020, while shares to social media from the Artist Wrapped microsites have increased 285% since 2018.
To access Artist Wrapped, artists can log in to their Spotify for Artists account via the web or mobile and click on the “Your 2021 Wrapped” card. Artists who don’t yet have a Spotify for Artists account can sign up themselves or via their distributor; after enrolling, their Wrapped microsite will be waiting as long as they’ve had at least three listeners before Oct. 31, 2021.
.
Several families of the 10 people who died from injuries in a massive crowd surge at the Astroworld festival have turned down an offer by headliner Travis Scott to pay for their loved ones’ funeral costs. Attorneys for the families of four of the victims said Tuesday (Nov. 30) that they received a letter from Scott’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, in which the offer was made.
In a letter sent Nov. 24 to the attorneys for the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, Petrocelli said Scott extended his “deepest sympathies and condolences” to Ezra’s father, Treston Blount, and Scott had wanted to reach out personally “but does not wish to intrude on Mr. Blount’s privacy during his time of grieving.”
Ezra was the youngest person to die from injuries suffered during Scott’s concert at the sold-out festival on Nov. 5 that was attended by 50,000 people. The others who died ranged in age from 14 to 27. Some 300 people were treated at the festival site and 13 were hospitalized; more than 100 lawsuits have been filed already against Scott, promoter Live Nation, ScoreMore and other organizers of the event for negligence.
“Travis is devastated by the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival and grieves for the families whose loved ones died or were injured. Travis is committed to doing his part to help the families who have suffered and begin the long process of healing in the Houston community,” Petrocelli wrote.
In his reply, Robert Hilliard, an attorney representing Treston Blount in a lawsuit against Scott, the concert promoter and others, declined the offer, saying that while he believes Scott feels remorse, Scott must see “that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy.”
“And perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet — as there is also healing in that,” Hilliard said. “For now, Mr. Scott must respect the fact that his pain and his devastation pale to Treston’s, Ezra’s mom, and the other victims.”
Petrocelli did not immediately return a call or email seeking comment Tuesday.
Michael Lyons, an attorney for the family of 27-year-old Mirza “Danish” Baig, said he viewed the offer to pay for funeral costs partly as a public relations ploy by Scott to “soften people up” in the court of public opinion. Baig’s family declined the offer, he said.
“Sadly, for my clients, a check from Travis Scott … is not going to relieve the pain and suffering that they presently are experiencing,” Lyons said. “I think it will only make it worse.”
Richard Mithoff, an attorney for the family of 14-year-old John Hilgert, also declined Scott’s offer.
Valerie Cortinas Fisher, a lawyer for the family of 23-year-old Rodolfo “Rudy” Peña, said her clients are grieving and have yet to consider Scott’s offer. Peña’s family, who is from Laredo, Texas, traveled to Houston on Monday to visit a memorial site near where the concert was held.
Maria de los Angeles Peña, Rodolfo Peña’s mother, remembered her son a joyful person who loved life and was a good student. “I want to say to the world, take care of your children, pray for them, watch where they go, and Travis Scott, God bless him. How there is earthly law, there is also divine law,” she said.
Tony Buzbee, who is representing the family of 21-year-old Axel Acosta Avila, said in an email Tuesday he had received a voicemail from a lawyer who was not Petrocelli making an offer for funeral expenses.
“The offer made didn’t warrant a response,” Buzbee said.
Attorneys for the families of others who died at the festival did not immediately return emails or calls seeking comment.
Scott and the event organizers are the focus of a criminal investigation by Houston police. No timetable has been set for when the investigation would be completed.
Spotify unveiled its annual end-of-year Wrapped campaign today, releasing personalized stats for each user along with lists of the platform’s most-streamed artists, songs, albums and podcasts.
Starting now, eligible Spotify users can access their personalized Wrapped experience exclusively in the Spotify mobile app (iOS and Android). In addition to the annual rundown of each user’s top artists, genres, songs, podcasts and minutes listened, this year’s Wrapped – available in over 30 countries – will include several brand-new features. One of these is Wrapped Blend, which will generate blended playlists between friends to see which artists and songs they had in common over the past year.
Additionally, more than 170 artists and creators have produced videos thanking fans for having them in their Wrapped rundown. The videos will appear for users who have a song by one of the participating artists in their top “Top Songs” or “Artists Revealed” playlists. For the first time, fans will also be treated to special thank-you messages from some of their favorite podcast hosts, which can be found by navigating to a participating show’s page on Spotify.
For the first time ever, Spotify users will also be able to post their Wrapped share cards directly to TikTok, joining platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
Elsewhere, Spotify Greenroom will help celebrate with special Wrapped editions of Spotify’s live playlist shows Most Necessary Live and LOREM Life, whose hosts – Brian “B. Dot Miller” and Max Motley and Dev Lemons, respectively – will spearhead live conversations with Spotify users dicussing their favorite music of the year.
Speaking of favorite music, Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify this year, with the Puerto Rican rapper drawing over 9.1 billion streams. He was followed on the tally by Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and Justin Bieber. In the U.S., Drake dominated all artists on the platform, while Swift, Juice WRLD, Kanye West and Bad Bunny rounded out the top five.
The most-streamed song of the year globally was Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” which racked up more than 1.1 billion streams worldwide. Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” won second place, followed by The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay,” Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” feat. DaBaby. Rodrigo dominated the top two spots on the U.S. list with “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” marking the first time a woman has ever done so. Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” feat. SZA, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” and “Levitating” rounded out the top five.
Rodrigo’s dominance extended to the global and U.S. albums tally, with her debut album Sour finishing in first place on both charts. On the global tally, Sour was followed by Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, Bieber’s Justice, Ed Sheeran’s = and Doja Cat’s Planet Her. The U.S. chart was rounded out by Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, Planet Her, Justice and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die.
In the podcast space, The Joe Rogan Experience ruled, ranking as the most-streamed show on both the global and U.S. charts. The No. 2 show globally was Call Her Daddy (which finished at No. 3 Stateside), followed by Crime Junkie (No. 2 in the U.S.), TED Talks Daily and The Daily, the latter of which finished in fourth place on the U.S. tally. NPR News Now rounded out the U.S. chart in fifth place.
Since launching in 2016, Wrapped has become a hugely popular feature on Spotify, with over 90 million users taking part last year. You can find additional details on Wrapped 2021 at Spotify’s For the Record blog.
MANILA, Philippines—Nueva Ecija continued its bullish recruitment of former PBA players who will suit up for the club in the coming Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational set for December 11 to 23 at Mall of Asia Arena. The Rice Vanguards added former Blackwater guard Roi Sumang to its roster, which the league announced on Wednesday. […]
The post Roi Sumang joins Nueva Ecija cast for MPBL Invitational appeared first on Inquirer Sports.
Former world number four Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30 on Wednesday, saying she was grateful she got to live her dreams as a professional. Struggling for form and fitness this year, Konta dropped to 113th in the world and played her last tour match at the Cincinnati Open […]
The post Britain’s tennis star Johanna Konta retires at 30 appeared first on Inquirer Sports.
Kanye West is working on a plan to help the homeless population of Los Angeles, it has been reported.
According to TMZ, the rapper has joined forces with philanthropic organisations in a bid to tackle the problem in the California city. It’s said that Ye recently sat down with Reverend Troy Vaughn, CEO of homeless charity LA Mission, to outline four ways he can help.
READ MORE: Kanye West – ‘DONDA’ review: some gems among lots – and lots – of filler
The ‘DONDA’ artist wants to continue providing food to homeless people by partnering with various charities in LA. Additionally, he’s looked at using his own companies to provide education, jobs and housing to those in need.
West also hopes to use his platform and Sunday Service series to highlight the issue, as well as to uplift the homeless community.
Finally, he wants to team up with other groups and combine their efforts to advocate for homeless people. Through the work, West is aiming to fully eradicate the homelessness crisis.
Last week, Ye gave 1000 meals to LA Mission, whose aim is to “break the cycle of homelessness and poverty, by stabilizing people in a safe and spiritual environment, connecting them to solutions and walking with them on their journey.”
Kanye West. CREDIT: Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
It’s believed that his meeting with Vaughn took place at the same time.
According to stats on LA Misson’s website, 63,706 people in Los Angeles are currently experiencing homelessness. Three out of four of these remain unsheltered, while there’s a 20 per cent increase in people aged 62 and older who are homeless.
Kanye West vowed to “cure homelessness and hunger” in the US during his 2020 presidential campaign last November. “We will cure hunger,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “There are people sleeping in parking lots.”
He added: “I was just speaking with someone that told me their life story and they used to be homeless. We must and will cure homelessness and hunger We have the capability as a species.”
Back in 2019, Ye created prototypes for an ambitious housing project to ease homelessness in LA. However, the dome structures were torn down after it was alleged that the rapper didn’t have the proper permits.
Last year, West shared plans to build an eco-village and children’s ranch using the same domes.
The post Kanye West outlines plan to tackle homelessness in Los Angeles appeared first on NME.
Prosecutors’ case against Jussie Smollett has focused on how Chicago police say they determined that what they initially believed was a horrific hate crime was actually a fake assault staged by the ex-Empire actor with help from two brothers. Testimony will continue Wednesday (Dec. 1) in the trial, which is expected to last about a week.
A lead investigator in the case, Michael Theis, said Tuesday that the brothers — who worked with Smollett on the Chicago set of Empire — detailed for police how the actor orchestrated the hoax. They said Smollett told them via text message to meet him “on the low,” paid for supplies including a clothesline later fashioned into a noose and took them for a “dry run” prior to the January 2019 alleged attack.
Theis, who now is assistant director for research and development for the Chicago Police Department, said roughly two dozen detectives clocked some 3,000 hours on the investigation, rebutting a defense attorney’s statement that they rushed to judgment. He said police were excited when they were able to track the movements of two suspected attackers using surveillance video and cellphone and records from ride-sharing services.
Defense attorney Nenye Uche has said the brothers — who also worked on the set of Empire — attacked Smollett because they didn’t like him “because of who he is” and suggested Tuesday that the brothers were homophobic. Smollett is charged with felony disorderly conduct for making what prosecutors say was a false police report. The class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said if Smollett is convicted he likely would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.
After police arrested brothers Abimbola and Olabingo Osundairo, the men said Smollett wanted to stage the attack because he was unhappy about how the TV studio handled hate mail the actor had received, Theis said. He said investigators checked out the brothers’ account — including that the actor picked them up days before the attack and drove them around the downtown neighborhood where he lived and talked about what would happen — and corroborated their version of events using GPS, cellphone records and video evidence.
Police found no instance where they concluded the men were lying, he added. “At the end of the investigation, we determined that the alleged hate crime was actually a staged event,” Theis said, and the Osundairo brothers were released.
Jurors were shown surveillance video of the brothers buying supplies, including a red hat they told police Smollett wanted them to wear to resemble supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and a piece of clothesline police said was later fashioned into the noose. Jurors also saw a still image from a video that Theis said showed Smollett returning home the night of the alleged attack, with the clothesline draped around his shoulders.
The clothesline was wrapped around his neck when officers arrived, Theis said, leading detectives to believe Smollett may have retied it. Uche has portrayed the Osundairo brothers as unreliable, and said when police searched their home they found heroin and guns. The brothers will testify during the trial, but it’s unknown if Smollett will.
Uche asked Theis on cross-examination about a homophobic word one of the brothers used. Theis said there was a message containing a slur but that he doesn’t know if that makes the man homophobic. Uche also asked Theis if he was aware one of the brothers attacked someone at the TV studio where Empire was filmed because he was gay.
“One individual said it happened, but I don’t know that it happened,” Theis said. Uche also sought to discredit the police investigation, suggesting detectives ignored possible leads. And he said a $3,500 check the actor paid the brothers was for personal training so he could prepare for an upcoming music video, not for carrying out the hoax, as prosecutors allege. Theis said the memo on the check said it was for “nutrition” and “training.”
Uche also has suggested that a third attacker was involved. One area resident said she saw a white man with “reddish brown hair” who appeared to be waiting for someone that night, according to police reports. She told a detective that when the man turned away from her, she “could see hanging out from underneath his jacket what appeared to be a rope.”
Under cross-examination, Theis acknowledged that he saw that statement but did not send a detective to re-interview the woman. He said she had seen the man a few hours before the alleged attack and that “the rope was a different color.”
