Xposition - July, 2017

Attention!!!

While award ceremonies took a break in July we see Tomorrowland the largest dance music festival in full swing. Held during the final two weekends in July Tomorrowland 2017 was under the theme “Amicorum Spectaculum” with a massive crowd of 400,000. Headlining the festival this time were 8 top notch DJ acts – Afrojack, Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Alesso, Paul Van Dyk, Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Paul Kalkbrenner. Afrojack played a record breaking eight sets and so wherever in Tomorrowland a participant, you can be sure they saw Afrojack. In a small set back, Tomorrowland’s Barcelona stage went up in flames resulting in the evacuation of more than 22,000 fans. The fire had erupted hours before Steve Aoki was to perform, but the organizers have ruled it was only a technical malfunction.

BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be retitled as BBC Music’s The Biggest Weekend as Glastonbury takes a sabbatical in 2018. Glastonbury which is one of the biggest music festivals in the world will take a year’s break after pulling in a record peak audience of 4.1 million viewers for Ed Sheeran’s headline slot. The Biggest Weekend will take place from 25 – 28 May 2018 in four cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the acts will be announced later it was confirmed that 175,000 tickets will be sold for the event.

Spandau Ballet’s lead singer Tony Hadley has formally announced his departure from the 80s group. Whilst the band first split up in 1990s, after a disagreement over loyalties they reformed in 2009 for a string of sold out shows. Whilst the reason for Hadley’s departure is uncertain he only revealed on Twitter that they were circumstances beyond his control.

It is with extreme sadness that the music industry had to bid farewell to Alternative Rock icon and lead singer of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington. His death came as a massive shock to the music industry when his housekeeper found his body on July 20. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging. The band’s seventh studio album One More Light was released earlier this year. While the band cancelled their North American leg of their One More Light World Tour following his death, it is clear what will happen to the band as a result of Bennington’s death. Bennington’s death was on what would have been his close friend and lead singer of Soundgarden, Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday, who had also committed suicide by hanging two months prior.

Moving onto chart news, in the US, Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber’s Despacito maintained its reign over the charts throughout the month accumulating 10 weeks at the top. DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller’s Wild Thoughts debuted in the top 10 but could not dethrone Despacito as it struggled at No.2. Meanwhile, French Montana featuring Swae Lee’s Unforgettable, Imagine Dragons’ Believer and Shawn Mendes’ There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back all entered the top 10.

In the UK, Despacito started at the top but was dethroned by Wild Thoughts in the final week. During the month Calvin Harris featuring Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams & Big Sean’s Feels, Maggie Lindemann’s Pretty Girls and Sigala & Ella Eyre’s Came Here For Love all entered the top 10.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1.       CNCO – Reggaetón Lento
2.       Dua Lipa – New rules
3.       Rudimental ft. James Arthur – Sun comes up
4.       Jax Jones ft. Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don – Instruction
5.       J Balvin & Willy William – Mi gente
6.       Demi Lovato – Sorry not sorry
7.       Zedd ft. Liam Payne – Get low
8.    Axwell & Ingrosso – More than you know

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Best Music Videos of 2016

Attention!!!

This is a long overdue post, but nevertheless one that is required to complete the year-end lists which would finally include the Most Successful Artists of 2016. Although 2015 produced a wide array of remarkable videos, 2016 could not match the predecessor in terms of visual aesthetics. Nevertheless, the directors and choreographers were not lethargic last year, as there were some beautiful videos that were produced.  

Coldplay of course takes the top spot with Up & up with its awesome and bizarre visual with the entire sequence being engulfed in top notch animation. Next we have Sia who teamed up with Maddie Zeigler once again for a perfectly choreographed video. Down the list we have one more where the two team up for Sia's Cheap Thrills (although released as a video this is life performance). In third place we have PUP's Sleep in heat, which sees Stranger Things cast member Finn Wolfhard putting on emotional performance with a dog. 

Leading the fray with two entries each are Coldplay, Sia, Kanye West, Beyonce, Clean Bandit and Bebe Rexha. However, Bey's uncredited appearance in Coldplay's Hymn for the Weekend accumulates her entries to three as she appears in the video. 2016 covered a wide range of genres from Pop, Rock and EDM to Rap, Trap and Reggae Fusion which is a mishmash of the best kind. Some of the biggest hits of the year such as The Weeknd's Starboy, Jutsin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling and Clean Bandit's Rockabye are all featured here because of their awesome videos. However, The Chainsmokers' Closer and Lukas Graham's 7 Years are not here because they are not great videos. So here are the 50 best music videos of 2016:
  1. Coldplay – Up & up
  2. Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar – The greatest
  3. PUP – Sleep in heat 
  4. Kaytranada – Lite spots
  5. Clean Bandit ft. Louisa Johnson – Tears
  6. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – Starboy
  7. Beyonce – Formation
  8. Radiohead – Burn the witch
  9. ZAYN – Pillowtalk
  10. Martin Garrix ft. Bebe Rexha – In the name of love
  11. David Guetta ft. Zara Larsson – This one’s for you
  12. DJ Shadow ft. Run the Jewels - Nobody speak
  13. Andra Day – Rise up (Inspiration Version)
  14. Coldplay – Hymn for the weekend
  15. Mike Posner – I took a pill in Ibiza (SeeB Remix)
  16. Sia – Cheap thrills (Performance Edit)
  17. Jenny Hval – Conceptual romance
  18. Alan Walker – Faded
  19. Tame Impala – The less I know the better
  20. Kanye West – Famous
  21. Beyonce – Hold up
  22. Clean Bandit ft. Anne Marie & Sean Paul – Rockabye
  23. Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo – Close
  24. Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – This is what you came for
  25. Fergie – M.I.L.F. $
  26. Pink – Just like fire 
  27. Black Eyed Peas ft. The World – #WHEREISTHELOVE
  28. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj – Side to side
  29. DJ Snake ft. Bipolar Sunshine – Middle 
  30. Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall – Juju on that beat (TZ Anthem)
  31. Selena Gomez – Kill ‘em with kindness
  32. Alessia Cara – Wild things
  33. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens
  34. AronChupa ft. Lil Sis Nora – Little swing
  35. The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – Don’t let me down
  36. Major Lazer ft. Nyla & Fuse ODG – Light it up
  37. Flo Rida – My house
  38. Taylor Swift – Out of the woods
  39. Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
  40. Kanye West – Fade
  41. Bebe Rexha ft. Nicki Minaj – No broken hearts
  42. Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Work from home
  43. Solange – Cranes in the sky
  44. Galantis – No money
  45. Bruno Mars – 24K magic
  46. Fall Out Boy ft. Demi Lovato – Irresistible 
  47. Anohni – Drone bomb me
  48. The Veronicas – In my blood
  49. Thomas Rhett – Die a happy man
  50. Jennifer Lopez – Ain’t your mama
Till the next stream...

At Ease!!!

Ultimate Quarantine Playlist

It has indeed been sometime since I took some time off to create a playlist. This time, I had a lot of time on my hands, considering I had 1...