Xposition - February, 2016

Attention!!!

We got a whiff of the awards season in January as the nominations of most major awards ceremonies were released and the 73rd Golden Globe Awards was also held. In February we enter the award season in full swing. 

First we have the 58th Grammy Awards started off by Taylor Swift with her new release Out Of The Woods. Kendrick Lamar led the fray with 11 nominations followed by Taylor Swift and The Weeknd with 7 nominations each. The 3 major awards were totally divided with Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars taking the Record of the Year for Uptown Funk, Taylor Swift grabbing the Album of the Year for 1989 and Ed Sheeran winning Song of the Year for Thinking Out Loud. There were tributes to so many artists who passed away such as Glenn Frey, Maurice White, B.B. King with a spectacular tribute by Lady Gaga to David Bowie. There was also a homage to Lionel Richie who received the 2016 MusiCares Person of the Year. Some other good performances of the night include Little Big Town's Girl Crush and James Bay and Tori Kelly doing a medley of Hollow and Let It Go. Other major awards include:
  • Best New Artist: Meghan Trainor
  • Best Dance Recording: Diplo & Skrillex ft. Justin Bieber - Where are u now
  • Best Rock Song: Alabama Shakes - Don't wanna fight
  • Best Rock Album: Muse - Drones
  • Best Urban Contemporary Album: The Weeknd - Beauty behind the madness
  • Best R&B Song: D Angelo & The Vanguard - Really love
  • Best Rap Song: Kendrick Lamar - Alright
  • Best Country Song: Little Big Town - Girl crush 
  • Best Song Written for Visual Media:Common & John Legend - Glory
  • Best Music Video: Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar - Bad blood
Next we have the 2016 Brit Awards. Almost all the performances were top notch with Coldplay's Hymn For The Weekend, Justin Bieber and James Bay with Love Yourself & Sorry, Jess Glynne doing a medley of her hits Ain't Got Far To Go, Don't Be So Hard On Yourself and Hold My Hand, Adele's When We Were Young, Little Mix's Black Magic and a tribute to David Bowie by Lorde backed by Bowie's band. Adele was the big winner of the night grabbing the two big wins for Album of the Year for 25 and Single of the Year for Hello and also British Female Solo Artist and BRITs Global Success. Bowie was posthumously bestowed with the BRITs Icon Award. Other winners of the night include:
  • British Male Solo Artist: James Bay
  • British Group: Coldplay
  • International Group: Tame Impala
  • International Male Solo Artist: Justin Bieber
  • International Female Solo Artist: Björk
  • British Video: One Direction - Drag Me Down
The month ended with the much anticipated 88th Academy Awards and Sam Smith's Writing's On The Wall from the James Bond film Spectre predictably winning the coveted Best Original Song. The Best Original Score went to Ennio Morricone for his work on The Hateful Eight. 

Meanwhile the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released the 10 biggest music acts in the world right now. Adele takes the top spot with over 15 million copies of her latest album 25 being sold worldwide. The full list is as follows:
  1. Adele
  2. Ed Sheeran
  3. Taylor Swift
  4. Justin Bieber
  5. One Direction
  6. Coldplay
  7. Maroon 5
  8. Sam Smith
  9. Drake 
  10. The Weeknd
In a rather disappointing state of affairs, Kesha was denied an injunction in a highly contentious issue against songwriter-producer Dr.Luke, whom she alleges drugged and raped her a decade ago and has committed ongoing abuse. Through this suit she has been pushing for a preliminary injunction that would allow her to record outside of Dr. Luke's purview. Justice Shirley Kornreich of the Supreme Court of New York was skeptical about the matter and stated that Kesha is asking court to set aside a highly negotiated contract which was typical for the industry, that Dr.Luke had invested over USD 60 million in her career and that he had already agreed to allow her to record without his involvement which decimates her argument. 

The #FreeKesha Movement has gained momentum throughout the month with female artists rallying around the embattled Tik Tok hit maker and fans protesting outside Sony's New York City headquarters in order to get it to intervene. Sony meanwhile released a statement that it is only a distributor and that the main agreement is between Kesha and Dr.Luke's company Kasz Money. Taylor Swift has donated USD 250,000 to Kesha, while Adele voiced her support for Kesha on stage at the Brit Awards and Lady Gaga urged Sony to drop Dr.Luke and tweeted "Do what is right and not what is better for business".

Members of the Indie Rock band Viola Beach passed away in a tragic car crash in Stockholm, Sweden while the band was on tour. With a monumental fan-led campaign the band's final single to be released Swings and Waterslides peaked at No.11 in the UK in the following week. 

In an attempt to keep up with the mainstream music, the UK launched a Trending Chart which highlights how the hottest new tracks are making an impact in the UK. The first No.1 on the chart was Zara Larsson's global hit Lush Life. 

Justin Bieber and Rihana have been announced as this year's headliner's for this summer's V Festival which will be held for the 21st time on the weekend of 21 and 22 August in Weston Park, Staffordshire and Hylands Park, Chelmsford. Also on the billed to perform are Sia, David Guetta, Jess Glynne, Little Mix, Bastille and John Newman as well as sets from Kaiser Chiefs, Rita Ora, Years & Years, Tinie Tempah, Example and Katy B, plus appearances from Halsey, Troye Sivan, Foxes, All Saints and Fleur East.

Now moving on to chart news, there is proper mayhem at the top in the US. Justin Bieber's Sorry managed to stay at the helm during the first week before he replaced himself at No.1 with Love Yourself. This was overthrown by Zayn's surprise hit Pillowtalk which debuted at No.1. Former One Direction member Zayn Malik's debut hit marks his first time at the top as One Direction is yet to claim the throne in the US coming close only once with their Best Song Ever reaching No.2 in 2013. Zayn's Pillowtalk slipped to No.7 in the following week as Love Yourself reclaimed the top spot.

There was also proper movement within the top 10 as so many contenders for the Song of the Summer are now entering the vicinity. The Chainsmokers ft. ROZES's Roses, Flo Rida's My House, Selena Gomez's Hands To Myself, G-Eazy & Bebe Rexha's Me, Myself & I entered the top 10 while Rihanna ft. Drake's Work and Drake's Summer Sixteen debuted within the top 10 during the month.

In the UK, Shawn Mendes' Stitches reigned for one week after which Zayn's Pillowtalk claimed the top spot during the second week just like in the US. Pillowtalk was ousted by Lukas Graham's 7 Years which remained at the top during the fourth week. During the month Jonas Blue ft. Dakota's Fast Car, Rihanna ft. Drake's Work and Zara Larsson's Lush Life all entered the top 10.

Some other hits that became popular during the month were:
  • Little Mix ft. Jason Derulo - Secret love song
  • Craig David & Big Narstie - When the bassline drops
  • Adele - When we were young
  • Yo Gotti ft. Nicki Minaj - Down in the DM
  • Mike Posner - I took a pill in Ibiza
  • Ellie Goulding - Army
Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

(All images used in the posts unless otherwise mentioned are drawn from https://images.google.com/ and the author does not hold copyright over the photos used.)

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