MANILA, Philippines—The PBA has gotten the go signal from the local government to host its inaugural 3×3 competition at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig beginning November 20. While contact sports like basketball remain prohibited in Pasig, Pasig mayor Vico Sotto announced that PBA has been given a special permit to hold competitions. “Hinihingi ko po […]
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HYBE, the home to K-pop powerhouses BTS, has announced the launch of a brand-new subsidiary label ADOR, in preparation for a new girl group.
READ MORE: BTS live in Seoul: a dynamic dance through poignancy and party-starting power
On November 12, HYBE announced via South Korean news outlet Sports Kyunghang that it would be launching a new independent label named ADOR, an abbreviation for All Doors One Room, with HYBE’s Chief Brand Officer (CBO) Min Hee-jin at the helm as its CEO.
“I’m fully prepared to give rise to another change in the music industry through the launch of this new label,” Min shared her thoughts on the launch of ADOR in HYBE’s statement, per translations by Soompi. “Without any fear of taking on new challenges, we will present new artistic IP (intellectual property) and content that will showcase ADOR’s unique philosophy.”
In the same announcement, HYBE also revealed that an upcoming girl group to be housed under ADOR is currently in the works, with their debut planned for 2022. The girl group, whose creative direction and branding will be taken charge of by Min Hee-jin, will be primarily comprised of members inducted during HYBE’s 2019 “Plus Global Audition”.
The production of ADOR’s debut act marks Min’s first “major” project since joining HYBE’s ranks in 2019, according to a report from Korea JoongAng Daily. Min was notably a visual director with SM Entertainment prior, where she had been in charge of the creative direction of some of K-pop’s biggest acts, such as Girls’ Generation, f(x), Red Velvet, SHINee and EXO.
The announcement comes a week after HYBE also announced the company’s entry into the American and Japanese markets with new idol groups in both countries, along with plans to launch NFT-related ventures with artist IPs.
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BLACKPINK’s Jisoo has opened up about the support she’s received from her members for her upcoming drama series Snowdrop.
The idol-actress recently spoke to Harper’s Bazaar Korea about her experiences working on the new JTBC drama and the support she’s received from the members of BLACKPINK – Jennie, Rosé and Lisa.
“The other BLACKPINK members promised that no matter what, they would watch the drama when it airs on TV,” Jisoo said, per translations by Soompi. “Even when I was filming, because we contact each other so often, they were always cheering me on.”
Jisoo also added that she “found [herself] gaining strength and working even harder” thanks to her members’ curiosity surrounding the drama and her lead role in it, as well as their encouragement toward the singer throughout the production of Snowdrop.
Elsewhere in the interview, Jisoo revealed that she would prefer to watch the premiere of Snowdrop on her own, instead of with loved ones. “I don’t have the confidence to watch the premiere with anyone. I want to watch it by myself at home, but I don’t know what will end up happening,” she admitted. “I think I may end up covering my eyes with my hands and watching through the tiny gap between my fingers.”
Snowdrop is set to premiere on South Korean broadcast network JTBC on December 18. Ahead of its launch in South Korea, Disney+ has revealed that it will also be streaming episodes of Snowdrop as part of its forthcoming expansion into Asia-Pacific content.
Snowdrop follows two students – played by Jisoo and Jung Hae-in – caught up in a whirlwind romance in South Korea. The television series is set in 1987, a pivotal year in the country’s history that saw a nationwide mass movement that forced the ruling government to hold elections.
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M.I.A. is set to release a new song called ‘Babylon’ as an NFT (non-fungible token).
READ MORE: WTF is an NFT? Kings Of Leon’s weird non-fungible token thing – explained!
The ‘Paper Planes’ artist will share the single alongside her 2010 mixtape ‘Vicki Leekx’ through a Foundation NFT auction in support of Courage.org.
As Consequence Of Sound reports, winning bidders will receive the tracks with mastered audio and exclusive high-resolution, M.I.A.-directed videos. The auction is due to start at 3pm ET (8pm GMT) today (November 12).
Fans can also hear the track and see its accompanying visuals via M.I.A.’s O H M N I website, with a preview now available on the English-Sri Lankan artists’ Instagram page. You can tune in below.
M.I.A. released two songs through her O H M N I site in 2020, ‘CTRL’ and ‘OHMNI 202091’. The latter marked her first track in three years, following 2017’s ‘POWA’. The musician’s latest studio album, ‘AIM’, arrived in 2016.
Back in April, M.I.A. announced she was entering the NFT market to launch her ‘NFT GARAGE DANCE’ series.
GIFTY 1, which was released through the “creative playground” Foundation, was described as “bookending [M.I.A.’s] 25-year tenure as a digital artist and collected as a GIF”. She followed it up with KALA COYN, her first-ever digital artwork that was created in 1996.
M.I.A. is set to headline next year’s Just Like Heaven festival alongside Interpol, Modest Mouse and The Shins. The event’s second edition will take place on Saturday, May 21 at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
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It’s not every day when Taylor Swift releases an album. But when it is that day, the Swifties light up.
At midnight, TayTay unlocked the vault again, this time sharing Red (Taylor’s Version), featuring the original 16 tracks, all re-recorded, and the bonus of 14 additional songs.
The likes of Chris Stapleton, Phoebe Bridgers and bestie Ed Sheeran make guest appearances on Swift’s latest project, while followers got to dive in on the long-awaited 10-minute version of the fan-fave, “All Too Well.”
As the album arrived on digital music platforms, social media lit up as Swifties jumped in and stanned her latest offering.
TayTay got the ball rolling, when she posted a tweet along with the results of a new photo session. “It never would have been possible to go back & remake my previous work, uncovering lost art & forgotten gems along the way if you hadn’t emboldened me,” she writes. “Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours. Now we begin again.”
Swift and her reworking of a classic was trending through the night, as fans shared their thoughts.
Check out some of the memes and messages below.
Beyoncé has shared a new track called ‘Be Alive’ – you can listen to it below.
The song was previewed in a trailer for the Venus and Serena Williams biopic King Richard last month.
READ MORE: The most revealing lyrics from Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’
“It feels so good to be alive/ Got all my family by my side/ Couldn’t wipe this black off if I tried/ That’s why I lift my head with pride,” Beyoncé sings in the piano-led, stripped-back first verse.
The powerful ballad will appear in the Will Smith-starring film’s closing credits. Smith portrays Richard Williams alongside Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Aunjanue Ellis, Tony Goldwyn and Jon Bernthal.
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters And Men), King Richard is set to arrive in cinemas and on HBO Max next Friday (November 19).
As Hip Hop N More reports, Bey’s contribution to the project came about after a preview screening of the biopic inspired her to write a song. “The marriage of a movie and a song is a kind of magic that’s unmatched in entertainment,” Smith said. “I was so happy when Beyoncé called.”
According to Warner Bros., King Richard presents Smith’s character as “an undeterred father” with a “relentless drive and unapologetic vision to change the game” who is “instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, who will end up changing the sport of tennis forever.”
Beyoncé confirmed she was working on new music over the summer. “I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she explained. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.”
She continued: “Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”
The star is yet to release the follow-up to her latest album, the acclaimed ‘Lemonade’, which came out in 2016. She released ‘Everything Is Love’, her collaborative record with Jay-Z, in 2018.
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It’s great to be alive, especially when the Queen Bey drops new music.
At the stroke of midnight, Beyonce shared “Be Alive,” her first release of 2021.
“Be Alive” is lifted from Warner Bros’ King Richard, an inspiration film that explores the story of tennis legends the Williams sisters and their father Richard Williams.
Like the movie it appears in, “Be Alive” is an ace that will warm your heart and give you goosebumps.
On it, Bey sings: “It feels so good to be alive / Got all my sisters by my side / Couldn’t wipe this black off if I tried / That’s why I lift my hеad with pride / Now we’re sitting on top of thе world again.”
“Be Alive” is Beyonce’s first release as a lead artist since 2020’s “Black Parade”.
King Richard is coming to theaters from Nov. 19 and it’ll stream exclusively on HBO Max.
Stream the new number below.
MANILA, Philippines—Carlo Biado added another piece of hardware to his growing trophy cabinet after he triumphed in the Abu Dhabi 9-Ball Championship Friday (Manila time) at Power Break Hall in the united Arab Emirates capital. The reigning US Open Pool champion dominated fellow Filipino Jordan Banares, 13-6, in the final to pocket AED 20,000 (around […]
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Gennady Golovkin will return to the boxing ring for the first time in a year when the hard-hitting Kazakh star takes on Ryota Murata in Japan next month, broadcaster DAZN said Friday. IBF middleweight champion Golovkin faces Japanese WBA super-titlist Murata on December 29 in a unification bout in Saitama, north of Tokyo. The 39-year-old […]
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MANILA, Philippines—Alex Eala has already made great strides in her juniors career, but has yet to play under the Philippine banner in international competitions. In an interview with her uncle Noli in the Power & Play show, Eala said she’s eager to play in future competitions with the Philippine flag stitched on her shirt. “I’m […]
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Robert Cray is the latest artist to hit out at Eric Clapton for his views on COVID-19, saying in a new interview that he backed out from a tour with Clapton after the latter released a released a song comparing lockdowns to slavery.
READ MORE: So, you’re ideologically opposed to your favourite pop star. What next?
The song in question is ‘Stand And Deliver’, a joint release with fellow sceptic Van Morrison that saw Clapton sing: “Do you wanna be a free man / Or do you wanna be a slave? / Do you wanna wear these chains / Until you’re lying in the grave?”
As he explained to the Washington Post, Cray – a Black man born into a segregated community in 1953 Georgia – took issue with such a comparison. Cray said he sent Clapton an email after he heard the track last December, and that “his reaction back to me was that he was referring to slaves from, you know, England from way back”.
It’s reported that Cray and Clapton – who long considered each other friends, and collaborated several times – shared another email exchange before Cray stepped back and cut ties with Clapton, making contact one last time to formally scrap his planned stint opening for Clapton on tour.
Cray went on to address a photo that Clapton had taken with controversial Texas governor Greg Abbott, who’d publicly backed anti-abortion laws and measures to restrict voters’ rights.
“There’s this great photo [from 2013] at Madison Square Garden after the show, with B.B. King sitting in a chair, Jimmie Vaughan, myself and Eric sitting behind him,” Cray told the Post. “And I looked at that picture of Gov. Abbott, Jimmie Vaughan and Eric Clapton in that similar pose, and I’m going, ‘What’s wrong with this picture? Why are you doing this?’”
Clapton has long been vocal about his opposition to lockdown measures and vaccine “propaganda”; back in August, he followed ‘Stand And Deliver’ (which itself was met with significant backlash) with another politically charged song, ‘This Has Gotta Stop’. On it, he declares: “You wanna claim my soul, you’ll have to come and break down this door.”
The veteran rocker has confirmed that he is personally vaccinated against COVID-19, but criticised the “propaganda” promoting the vaccine’s safety, even claiming in May that he experienced “disastrous” side-effects.
In July, Clapton vowed never to perform at a venue that required proof of vaccination as a condition of entry (however two months later, he did indeed perform at such a venue).
Last month, it was reported that Clapton had donated £1,000 and lent his own van to UK anti-lockdown music group Jam For Freedom, congratulating its founder on doing “great work”.
August saw Queen icon Brian May speak out regarding Clapton’s comments, assuring that although “[Clapton] has very different views from [him] in many ways”, he “would never stop respecting the man”. He did, however, go on to say: “Anti-vax people, I’m sorry, I think they’re fruitcakes.”
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Grimes has formed an “AI girl group” named NPC, which she’s premiered today through a collaboration with producer and DJ Chris Lake titled ‘A Drug From God’.
READ MORE: Grimes – ‘Miss Anthropocene’ review: an iconoclast continues to march to the beat of her own drum
According to a press release, the virtual group has infinite members that “can be voted in or out, except for core members such as the baby Warnymph”.
The project will serve as “a vehicle for experimentation in new technologies as they become available”, such as “generative characters and music, [different] types of animation, AI-assisted art as well as spiritual technology”.
It will also allow Grimes to “create as other people in order to reduce the psychic pain of being in the public eye”. Listen to ‘A Drug From God’ below:
According to the accompanying press statement, NPC will “hone the concepts” of Grimes’ albums ‘Art Angels’ and ‘Miss Anthropocene’, “finally manifesting the endless characters in Grimes’ head”.
“NPC can do all the things humans cannot. NPC will eventually be playable, customizable, and able to cater to each individual listener’s unique desires. Decentralized Popstardom. Made, not Born.”
Grimes teased the existence of NPC and the imminent arrival of the song – originally titled ‘Love Is a Drug From God’ – last week, saying photos of the group weren’t ready yet because “we’re stuck on making their faces”.
It seems the project will feature significant visual elements, but that aspect has delayed, with Grimes writing on Instagram earlier this week, “Me and [Lake] just needed to get this song out cuz it’s been going so hard at festivals!!!!”
Back in June of this year, Grimes shared video footage of Lake playing the collaboration live during a show in Arizona, asking fans whether they should release the studio version.
In September, Grimes indicated she was close to completing her next album. “I’m just finishing an album, and I think it is by far my greatest work that I’ve ever done,” she said during an interview with Vogue of the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Miss Anthropocene’.
Later that month, she premiered a new song titled ‘Love’ on her Instagram, saying she’d written and produced the song in response to “privacy invasion, bad press, online hate and harassment by paparazzi”.
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