Xposition - April, 2018

Attention!!!

April was a devastating month for EDM as we bade farewell to Avicii, a powerhouse and an reckoning force in the industry. The global superstar who produced the hits Wake Me Up, Levels and Hey Brother even collaborated with the likes of Coldplay, Rita Ora, Robbie Williams and Leona Lewis. Avicii whose real name is Tim Bergling committed suicide by inflicting injuries upon himself through a broken wine bottle. This beloved artist was known to be struggling with alcohol use as well as mental stress for which he had earlier retired from touring in 2016. 

The awards season was full on swing as the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards were held with Chris Stapleton being the big winner of the night winning Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for From a Room: Volume 1 although the Entertainer of  the Year went to Jason Aldean. Some great performances included Carrie Underwood's Cry Pretty, Kane Brown & Lauren Alaina's What Ifs, Florida Georgia Line & Bebe Rexha's Meant To Be and Maren Morris' Rich. Other significant wins of the night included:

• Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
• Vocal Duo of the Year: Brothers Osborne
• Vocal Group of the Year: Old Dominion
• Single Record of the Year: Sam Hunt - Body like a back road
• Song of the Year: Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert & John Randall - Tin Man
• Video of the Year: Brothers Osborne - It ain't my fault

The 25th Billboard Latin Music Awards were also held with Daddy Yankee sweeping the wins with 8 including Hot Latin Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for Despacito which won all 6 of its nominations. The Mexican rock band Maná was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of the other major wins included:

• Artist of the Year: Ozuna
• New Artist of the Year: Christian Nodal
• Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year - Male: Luis Fonsi 
• Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year - Female: Shakira
• Top Latin Album of the Year: Nicky Jam - Fénix
• Latin Pop Song of the Year: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber - Despacito

The Billboard Music Awards 2018 announced its nominations with Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars each with 15 nods followed by Post Malone with 13, Imagine Dragons with 11 and Drake with 9. 21 Savage, Camila Cabello, Khalid and Kodak Black all vie for the coveted Top New Artist award. The ceremony is to be held in May hosted by Kelly Clarkson. 

The Voice UK in its seven season crowned Ruti Olajugbagbe coached by Sir Tom Jones. Her coronation song was Dreams by The Cranberries whose lead singer Dolores O'Riordan passed away earlier this year. 

Songwriting credits is a serious matter, as many in the industry found out the hard way ie. Blurred Lines, Photograph etc. The latest is when Tulisa won a 5-year legal battle against Will.I.Am and Britney Spears for Scream & Shout, which she claimed helped to write. Tulisa claimed that she co-wrote the song I Don't Give A Fuck for her debut album The Female Boss. While the song did not make the final cut, Will.I.Am went on to collaborate with Spears using this song for Scream & Shout. The lawsuit revealed that Tulisa's vocals were still on the song alongside Spears’ in the finally-released track. The victory ensures Tulisa of an official songwriting credit on the song and 10% of the worldwide publishing rights and income for the record. All money made from the track was frozen when the lawsuit was launched in 2012.

In chart news, in the US Drake continued his reign with God's Plan accumulating altogether 11 weeks at the top of the charts, after which he replaced himself at the top with Nice For What, which remained at the top till the end of the month. During the month The Weekend's Call Out My Name, Cardi B, J Balvin and Bad Bunny's I Like It, Nicki Minaj's Chun-Li and Migos ft. Drake's Walk It Talk It all entered the top 10. 

In the UK, with the end of March came Drake's reign as Rudimental ft. Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen's These Days finally overthrew God's Plan in the first week. However, this was short lived as Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown's Freaky Friday became No.1 in the second week which again was toppled by Drake's Nice For What and then again by the mammoth collaboration between Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa's One Kiss which claimed the top spot. During the month Sigala & Paloma Faith's Lullaby and The Weeknd's Call Out My Name both entered the top 10.  

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1. David Guetta & Sia - Flames
2. Khalid & Normani - Love lies 
3. Years & Years - Sanctify 
4. Kylie  Minogue - Dancing
5. Imagine Dragons - Whatever it takes 

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - April, 2017

Attention!!!

The 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards 2017 was held in March where Fifth Harmony and Kelsea Ballerini were the big winners. Song of the Year however went to Shawn Mendes’ Treat You Better while Britney Spears was honored with the first Icon Award for her contribution to music. Some of the best performances of the night included Hailee Steinfeld’s medley of Most Girls and Starving, Train’s Play That Song, Julia Michaels’ Issues and of course the Spears’ tribute where a medley of Oops!... I Did It Again, Circus, …Baby One More Time and Till The World Ends were sung by Kelsea Ballerini, Sofia Carson, Hailee Steinfeld and Jamie Lynn Spears. The other significant winners of the night were:

·         Best Female Artist: Ariana Grande

·         Best Male Artist: Niall Horan

·         Best Group: Fifth Harmony

·         Best Band: DNCE

·         Breakout Artist of the Year: Alessia Cara

·         Best New Artist: Grace VanderWaal

·         Best Collaboration: Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello – Bad things

·         Fiercest Fans: Harmonizers

·         Country Favorite Artist: Kelsea Ballerini

·         Country Favorite Song: Kelsea Ballerini – Peter Pan

Next up we have the 2017 Billboard Latin Music Awards where Nicky Jam made a massive comeback winning 6 awards where his song Hasta El Amanecer won the Hot Latin Song of the Year as well as Digital, Streaming and Latin Rhythm Song of the year. Artist of the Year was won by Late Juan Gabriel who also won the Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year – Male, Latin Pop Albums Artist of the Year – Solo and his album Los Duo 2 won Top Latin and Latin Pop Album of the Year. Enrique Iglesias took away 4 awards including Latin Pop Songs Artist of the Year – Solo and Latin Pop Song of the Year for his collaboration with Wisin on Duele El Corazon. Other winners of the night include:

·         Artist of the Year: New – CNCO

·         Tour of the Year: Marc Anthony

·         Social Artist of the Year: Jennifer Lopez

·         Hot Latin Song Artist of the Year: Female – Shakira

·         Hot Latin Songs Label of the Year: Sony Music Latin

2017 Academy of Country Music Awards was also held in April where Jason Aldean was awarded Entertainer of the Year. Meanwhile, ACM Song of the Year went to Thomas Rhett’s Die A Happy Man and Album of the Year was awarded to Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of these Wings. The other winners of the night were:

·         Male Vocalist of the Year: Thomas Rhett

·         Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert

·         Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town

·         Songwriter of the Year: Lori McKenna

·         Single Record of the Year: Florida Georgia Line – H.O.L.Y

·         Video of the Year: Artists of Then, Now & Forever – Forever country

The world’s apparent greatest songwriter, Ed Sheeran has privately settled a case against him which was lodged last year. In 2016, Sheeran was sued by songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, writers of Matt Cardle's 2011 single Amazing, for USD 20 million for copyright infringement. US judge James Selna confirmed Ed’s case had been dismissed last month after the Suffolk born star reached an agreement with the writers, with no admission of guilt. Details of the settlement have not been made public. Following this saga, his titanic global hit Shape of You also came under fire as critiques alleged plagiarism from TLC’s legendary 90’s smash hit No Scrubs. Since then Sheeran has added both Kandi Burruss and Tameka Cottle who penned the R&B track as co-writers alongside the song's producer Kevin Briggs.

Glastonbury Festival 2017 has announced its full line-up where along with its headlining acts – Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters and Radiohead, a number of other high profile artists such as Lorde, Shaggy, Katy Perry, Clean Bandit, Birdy and Stormzy are to perform. Glastonbury will take place at Worthy Farm, Somerset from June 23-25.

Good news for N-Dubz fans as the Hip-Hop trio have indicated that they will reunite in the near future. Fazer confirmed that the group was anyway only on a hiatus and that he along with Dappy and Tulisa will return to the studio to produce new music. When that will exactly be God only knows.

Moving onto chart news, in the US Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You remained unmoved at the top during the entire month accumulating 12 non-consecutive weeks at No.1. Meanwhile, Drake’s Passionfruit, Kendrick Lamar’s Humble and Harry Style’s debut single Sign of the Times all debuted in the top 10. Future’s Mask Off and Sam Hunt’s Body Like a Back Road also entered the top 10.  

In the UK, Sheeran’s reign with Shape of You was only interrupted when Harry Styles debuted atop the charts with his Sign of the Times.  During the month Julia Michaels’ Issues, Zedd & Alessia Cara’s Stay and Kendrick Lamar’s Humble all entered the top 10.  

Other songs which became popular during the month were: 

1.       Drake ft. Travis Scott & Quavo – Portland

2.       Future ft. Rihanna – Selfish

3.       Kyle ft. Lil Yachty – iSpy

4.       Zayn ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR – Still got time

5.       Stargate ft. Pink & Sia – Waterfall

6.       Lana Del Rey ft. The Weeknd – Lust for life 

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - April, 2016

Attention!!!

April was quite an eventful month. First we had the iHeartRadio Music Awards with Taylor Swift leading the nominees and taking most of the hardware as well. There were so many good performances including Iggy Azalea's Team, Meghan Trainor's No, Jason Derulo's If It Ain't Love and DNCE's Cake By The Ocean. Adele won Song of the Year for Hello while Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for 1989. Other winners include:

• Female Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
• Male Artist of the Year: Justin Bieber
• Best New Artist: Fetty Wap
• Best Duo/Group of the Year: Maroon 5
• Alternative Rock Artist of the Year: Twenty One Pilots
• Alternative Rock Song of the Year: Twenty One Pilots - Stressed out
• Rock Artist of the Year: Foo Fighters
• Country Artist of the Year: Luke Bryan
• Dance Song of the Year: Skrillex & Diplo ft. Justin Bieber - Where are u now
• Dance Artist of the Year: Calvin Harris
• Latin Artist of the Year: Pitbull
• Best Lyrics: Rachel Platten - Fight song 
• Best Collaboration: Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - Uptown funk 

The 51st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards was also held. Chris Stapleton was the big winner sweeping both Album of the Year for Traveller and Song of the Year for Nobody To Blame. The other winners of the night include:

• Record of the Year: Thomas Rhett - Die a happy man
• Entertainer of the Year: Jason Aldean
• Male Vocalist of the Year: Chris Stapleton 
• Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
• Vocal Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line
• Video of the Year: Eric Church - Mr. Misunderstood 

The Juno Awards were also held in April with brilliant performances by The Weeknd, Alessia Cara and Shawn Mendes. The Weeknd won Artist of the Year as well as Album of the Year for Beauty Behind The Madness, Single of the Year for Can't Feel My Face and Songwriter of the Year for Can't Feel My Face, In The Night and The Hills. Some of the other significant wins included:

• Group of the Year: Walk Off The Earth
• Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Alessia Cara
• Breakthrough Group of the Year: Dear Rouge
• Video of the Year: Adele - Hello 
• Pop Album of the Year: Justin Bieber - Purpose
• International Album of the Year: Adele - 25

This April we bid adieu to American Idol on its final run in the 15th season. With a two-hour plus series finale with an evening packed of performances by past winners and finalists such as Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken as well as the original trio of judges adorable Paula Abdul, goofy Randy Jackson and the cynical Simon Cowell. In the end host Ryan Seacrest named Trent Harmon the winner over La'Porsha Renae. 

Meanwhile, the highly anticipated Billboard Music Awards 2016 is to take place in May and the nominations were revealed wherein The Weeknd has been nominated a whopping 19 times in 16 categories. Some of the important nominations are:

• Top Artist: Adele, Justin Bieber, Drake, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift
• Top Male Artist: Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Fetty Wap
• Top Female Artist: Adele, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Rihanna
• Top Hot 100 Song: Adele's Hello, Fetty Wap's Trap Queen, The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face, The Weeknd's The Hills, Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again
• Top Billboard 200 Album: Adele's 25, Ed Sheeran's x, Taylor Swift's 1989, Justin Bieber's Purpose, The Weeknd's Beauty Behind The Madness

The 61st annual Eurovision Song Contest is to be held in May in Stockholm, Sweden following the country's victory in 2015 with Måns Zelmerlöw's Heroes. 42 countries will participate. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine will return after absences from recent contests, while Australia will also return after debuting as a special guest in 2015. The contest will also be the first to implement a new voting system since 1975, with each country now awarding two sets of points: one from their professional jury and another from televoting. And the favourites are Russia, France, Malta, Sweden and Bulgaria. 

2016 seems to be taking away the legends in music and this month the victim is Prince. Prince Rogers Nelson, known by his stage name Prince was extremely popular in the 1980s for his hits including the global smashes When Doves Cry, Purple Rain and Kiss. He passed away on 21st April aged 57. With the artist's demise his previous hits and albums will definitely make an impact on the charts in the coming weeks. 

The full lineup for Mysteryland USA to be held from June 10 - 13 was revealed composing of more than 90 acts with Odesza, Skrillex and Bassnectar headlining the festival. This year the age barrier has been reduced to 19 from 21. 

Moving onto chart news, in the US Rihanna ft. Drake's Work ruled the roost with Lukas Graham's 7 Years initially struggling at No.2 and thereafter Desiigner's Panda. With a whopping 9 weeks at the top Rihanna has accumulated 60 weeks at No.1 and is now the artist with the second-most weeks at No.1 of all time passing The Beatles with their 59 weeks and just behind Mariah Carey's titanic 79 weeks. As of the last week of April its 41 straight weeks that non- American born acts have led the Hot 100. Meanwhile, former chart leader Justin Bieber's Love Yourself broke his own record for the most consecutive weeks in the top 10 as Love Yourself surpasses Sorry's 21 weeks with 22 weeks inside the top 10. Other songs which peaked within the top 10 during the month are Ariana Grande's Dangerous Woman, Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dollar $ign's Work From Home and Meghan Trainor's No.

In the UK, Mike Posner's Seeb Remix of I Took A Pill In Ibiza ruled for two weeks after which Drake ft. Wizkid & Kyla's One Dance took the helm. This was all at the peril of Sia's Cheap Thrills which was prevented from gaining the top spot. Other songs which peaked within the top 10 are Alan Walker's Faded and DNCE's Cake By The Ocean.

Other songs which became popular during the month are:

• Disturbed - The sound of silence
• The Chainsmokers ft. Daya - Don't let me down
• Inna - Rendez vous
• Alexandra Stan ft. Mohombi - Balans
• DJ Snake ft. Bipolar Sunshine - Middle 
• Bebe Rexha ft. Nicki Minaj - No broken hearts
• Chris Brown - Back to sleep 
• Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo - Close 
• Alessia Cara - Wild things
• Iggy Azalea - Team 

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.)

Xposition - April 2015

Attention!!!

Well April did have its moments in terms of major drama and breakups. First up, Miley Cyrus split from a five month relationship with Patrick Schwarzeneggar and this was followed by Big Sean and Ariana Grande's breakup. A lame twitter spat between Diplo and LTTE terrorist supporter M.I.A. over her being signed on to a major label was also the subject of unwarranted media hype. 

The 50th Academy of Country Music Awards was held in April where Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert emerged as the biggest winners of the show. Luke Bryan who co-hosted the show alongside Blake Shelton won the Entertainer of the Year. Miranda Lambert took away the Female Vocalist of the Year and Jason Aldean won the Male Vocalist of the Year. The other winners are:

• Album of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Platinum
• Song of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Automatic
• Vocal Duo of the Year - Florida Georgia Line
• Vocal Group of the Year - Little Big Town
• New Artist of the Year - Cole Swindell
• Single Record of the Year: Lee Brice - I Don't Dance

The 2015 Billboard Latin Music Awards was also held in April where Enrique Iglesias and Romeo Santos ruled the night. Enrique Iglesias took 9 awards including Latin Pop Album of the Year for Sex & Love and his global hit Bailando won the award for Hot Latin Song of the Year, Airplay Song of the Year, Digital Song of the Year, Streaming Song of the Year and Latin Pop Song of the Year. Romeo Santos bagged 10 awards to seal his title as the most nominated artist in the history of the awards. In what seemed a very emotional performance for her, Jennifer Lopez stole the show when she paid tribute to Selena, who was tragically murdered 20 years ago.  The significant winners included:

• Artist of the Year: Romeo Santos
• New Artist of the Year: J. Balvin
• Social Artist of the Year: Shakira
• Hot Latin Songs Male Artist of the Year: Romeo Santos
• Hot Latin Songs Female Artist of the Year: Natalia Jimenez
• Billboard Spirit of Hope Award - Carlos Santana

The 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards were also held in April with performances by Fifth Harmony, Nick Jonas, Sheppard, Natalie La Rose and Shawn Mendes. The Song of the Year went to Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea's Problem while the Hero Award was awarded to Jennifer Lopez. Other winners of the night included:

• Best Female Artist: Ariana Grande
• Best Male Artist: Ed Sheeran
• Best Group: Fifth Harmony
• Best New Artist: Charli XCX
• Best Band: 5 Seconds of Summer
• Best Collaboration: Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd - Really don't care 
• Best Song to Dance To: Taylor Swift - Shake it off 

The much anticipated 2015 Billboard Music Awards are to be held next month with Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea opening the show with her newest single Pretty Girls, which is hyped up to be one of the biggest collaborations this year. Taylor Swift leads the nominations with 14 followed by Sam Smith with 13, Iggy Azalea with 12 and Meghan Trainor with 9. Mariah Carey is also to perform for the first time since 1998 at the show. 

In the US Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk ruled for the first three weeks of the month completing 14 weeks at No.1 and tying at second place with 6 other songs behind Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's One Sweet Day which holds the record for staying 16 weeks at number one. However, Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again taken from the Furious 7 soundtrack dethroned Uptown Funk's reign. This tribute to Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker who died in a tragic car accident in 2013 once again shows that this year the Billboard Hot 100 is more tolerable to soundtracks as it comes in the wake of the success of Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do and The Weeknd's Earned It from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. Flo Rida ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas' G.D.F.R., Natalie La Rose ft. Jeremih's Somebody and Walk The Moon's Shut Up and Dance all managed to enter the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. 

In the UK the month started off with Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand at the top the position of which it kept till Wiz Khalifa's See You Again claimed the top spot in the UK as well. During the month Ed Sheeran's Bloodstream, Nick Jonas' Jealous, and OMI's Cheerleader all peaked at No.2. Sia's Elastic Heart also achieved a peak of 10 and Steve McCrorie's Lost Stars a peak of No.4 during the month. 

Some of the other songs that became during the month are:

• Jason Derulo - Want to want me
• David Guetta ft. Afrojack & Nicki Minaj - Hey mama
• Little Big Town - Girl crush
• Skrillex & Diplo ft. Justin Bieber - Where are u now
• Major Lazer & Dj Snake ft. MO - Lean on
• Carly Rae Jepsen - I really like you 
• Iggy Azalea ft. Jennifer Hudson - Trouble 

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - April 2014

Attention!!!

Well, April was relatively a very mellow and uninteresting month. The only thing that was at least of some interest was the 49th Academy of Country Music Awards held on 6th April and the Billboard Latin Music Awards held on 24th April. Miranda Lambert swept the ACMAs with Female Vocalist of the Year and Record of the Year for Mama's Broken Heart. She also shared the Vocal Event of the Year with Keith Urban for We Were Us. The Entertainer of the Year was George Strait while Lee Brice won the Song of the Year for I Drive Your Truck and Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year for Same Trailer Different Park. Other significant awards were:

• Male Vocalist of the Year - Jason Aldean
• Vocal Duo of the Year - Florida Georgia Line
• New Artist of the Year - Justin Moore
• Vocal Group of the Year - The Band Perry
• Video of the Year - Highway Don't Care (Tim McGraw ft. Taylor Swift)

Marc Anthony was the top winner at the BLMAs taking 10 awards including Artist of the Year, Latin Album, Hot Latin Song, Digital Song, Latin Airplay Song of the Year for Vivir Mi Vida a track that spent 17 weeks at No.1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs. Social Artist of the Year was won by Shakira and Crossover Artist of the Year by Bruno Mars. Andrea Bocelli was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Other significant awards were:

• Vocal Event of the Year - Enrique Iglesias ft. Romeo Santos - Loco
• Producer of the Year - Anthony Romeo Santos
• Latin Rhythm Song of the Year - Daddy Yankee - Limbo
• Streaming Song of the Year - Prince Royce - Darte Un Beso

Pharrell Williams' Happy continued its domination of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US throughout the month without any hint of being overthrown. In the UK Aloe Blacc's The Man peaked in the first week followed by Sigma's Nobody to Love, Kiesza's Hideaway and Mr. Probz's Waves (Robin Schulz Remix). All four songs are not highly mainstream and except for The Man are all dance club tracks. 

DJ Snake & Lil Jon's Turn Down For What finally cracked the top 10 in the US peaking at No.5 which  was the only song to break the dormant Top 10 in April. Cash Cash ft. Bebe Rexha's Take Me Home peaked at No.5 and John Martin finally released a song on his own titled Anywhere For You which peaked at 7. Some other songs that were became popular in the US and UK are:

• Iggy Azalea ft. Charlie XCX - Fancy
• The Vamps - Last Night
• DJ Cassidy ft. Robin Thicke & Jessie J - Calling all hearts
• Neon Jungle - Welcome to the Jungle
• MKTO - Classic
• Rixton - Me and My Broken Heart
• Paramore - Ain't it fun

Til the next beat…

At Ease!!!