Xposition - February, 2017

Attention!!!

It was all about the Grammys in February as the most esteemed awards ceremony in music took place at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. The 59^th Annual Grammy Awards kicked off with Beyonce leading the fray with 9 nominations. However, Adele was the biggest winner of the night grabbing 5 awards including the coveted triple crowns for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for Hello and the Album of the Year for 25. Adele also became the first artist in history to win all three general field awards in the same ceremony twice, previously winning all three categories in 2012. She was followed by David Bowie and Greg Kurstin with four trophies.

The ceremony kicked off with a stellar performance of Hello by Adele followed by other great performances by Ed Sheeran with his global hit Shape of You and Bruno Mars’s That’s What I Like. The ceremony had three tributes wherein Adele sang George Michael’s Fastlove, Demi Lovato, Tori Kelly, Little Big Town and Andra Day collaborating for a Bee Gees tribute medley, and Bruno Mars and The Time collaborating for a Prince medley. The other significant wins of the night include:

·         Best New Artist: Chance the Rapper

·         Best Music Video: Beyonce – Formation

·         Best Dance Recording: The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – Don’t let me down

·         Best Dance/Electronic Album: Flume – Skin

·         Best Rock Song: David Bowie – Blackstar

·         Best Urban Contemporary Album: Beyonce – Lemonade

·         Best Rap Song: Drake – Hotline bling

·         Best Country Song: Tim McGraw – Humble and kind

·         Best Country Album: Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

·         Best Song Written for Visual Media: Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!

Next up we have the 37^th BRIT Awards. Little Mix opened the show with their hit Shout Out To My Ex which went on to win the British Single of Year. Other great performances included Emeli Sande’s Hurt, an extremely politically controversial yet good performance of Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley’s Chained to the Rhythm and also Ed Sheeran with a medley of Castle on the Hill and Shape of You featuring a guest appearance by Stormzy. The Chainsmokers and Coldplay collaborated on stage to deliver their surprise new single Something Just Like This. David Bowie was posthumously awarded both the British Male Solo Artist as well as the British Album of the Year for Blackstar. The Icon Award was bestowed on Robbie Williams while the Global Success went to Adele. The other award winners were:

·         British Female Artist: Emeli Sande

·         British Group: The 1975

·         International Group: A Tribe Called Quest

·         British Breakthrough Act: Rag ‘n’ Bone Man

·         International Male Solo Artist: Drake

·         International Female Solo Artist: Beyonce

·         British Video: One Direction – History

La La Land was the winner of all the music related awards at the 89^th Annual Academy Awards where Justin Hurwitz won for Best Original Score for the film and Best Original Song for City of Stars which was performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film.

Apart from the awards, we have the jaw-dropping halftime performance by Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl LI. She started off with a mash up of God Bless America and Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land before teasing the audience with the first line of the chorus of her hit Edge of Glory. This leads to a medley of her greatest hits starting off with her biggest hit Poker Face and going on to sing Born This Way, Telephone and Just Dance. She then mellows it down with her latest single Million Reasons for which there was pin drop silence in the stadium. Then she finishes it off with her second biggest hit Bad Romance. With an intense and astutely choreographed production, her performance is now ranked among the best Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. 

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has released the biggest music acts in the world for 2016 and Drake tops the list. Drake achieves this position for the huge success of his fourth album, Views and the multiplatinum hit One Dance featuring WizKid and Kyla. At second place is David Bowie who posthumously witnessed monumental success for his final album Blackstar. The full top 10 are:

1.       Drake

2.       David Bowie

3.       Coldplay

4.       Adele

5.       Justin Bieber

6.       Twenty One Pilots

7.       Beyonce

8.       Rihanna

9.       Prince

10.   The Weeknd

In festival news, Lady Gaga has officially replaced Beyonce as a headliner of Coachella 2017 where the latter was advised by doctors to stay away from the stage due to her pregnancy. It was a no brainer for the organizers of this massive concert to invite Gaga after her acclaimed performance at the Super Bowl. Eminem has been announced as the third headliner for the Reading and Leeds Festival 2017 alongside Muse and Kasabian.

Jay-Z has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and became the first rapper in history to be bestowed with such an honour. Alongside Jay-Z will see Max Martin and the duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also inducted. Madonna and George Michael were both nominated but did not make the cut.

Moving onto chart news, in the US Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert’s Bad and Boujee was replaced in the second week by Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You returning to the top backed by his Grammy performance. Meanwhile, The Chainsmokers’ Paris debuted within the Top 10 and Lady Gaga’s Million Reasons soared to No.4 propelled by her performance at the Super Bowl and Alessia Cara’s Scars To Your Beautiful also entered the top 10.

In the UK, Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You remained at the top aided by performances at both the Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards accumulating six consecutive weeks at the top. Also during the month Sean Paul featuring Dua Lipa’s No Lie, Dua Lipa’s Be The One, Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley’s Chained to the Rhythm and Taylor Swift & Zayn’s I Don’t Wanna Live Forever entered the top 10.   

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1.       Big Sean – Bounce back

2.       Julia Michaels – Issues

3.       Train – Play that song

4.       Major Lazer ft. Nicki Minaj & PARTYNEXTDOOR – Run up

5.       Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa – Scared to be lonely

6.       Stormzy – Big for your boots 

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - January, 2017

Attention!!!

January kicked off after reeling from the hangover of an awesome 2016. The charts were settling down after the impact of Justin Bieber, Sia, Rihanna, Clean Bandit and of course Drake. Moreover, the buzz was all about the Grammys to be held in February as the heavyweights in the industry as Beyonce and Adele were up against each other for the major grabs. 

We start off the year with US President-elect Donald Trump frantically searching for artists and bands to perform at his inauguration. With snubs from the likes of Elton John, Celine Dion, The Beach Boys, Charlotte Church, 2 Chainz and Rebecca Ferguson the final line up of artists included 3 Doors Down, Toby Keith, Tony Orlando, The Piano Guys and Sam Moore. This is definitely a step down from the star-studded inauguration of Barack Obama’s second term which included Alicia Keys, fun., Brad Paisley, Glee Cast, John Legend and Stevie Wonder. 

Meanwhile, most of the stars were to be seen at the Women’s March on Washington following the inauguration to advocate policies and laws regarding human rights, racial equality, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, freedom of religion etc. Artists such as Alicia Keys, Cher, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Madonna, John Legend, Rihanna etc. were seen at the march. Meanwhile, following Madonna’s remarks at the march HITS 105 in Texas even went to the extent of banning Madonna’s songs from airplay. 

The headlining acts of Coachella 2017 were announced as the annual event takes place for the 18th time in April. Beyonce, Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar have been announced as headliners this year. It will be the third time Radiohead will be headlining while Beyonce will become only the second female headliner since Björk. The full lineup also includes Lorde, Bon Iver, Mac Miller, New Order, DJ Khaled, Schoolboy Q and composer Hans Zimmer.     

The 74th Golden Globes were held in January where La La Land outshone all others while sweeping all 7 awards that it was nominated for. Justin Hurwitz won for Best Original Score and the film’s lead single City of Stars penned by Hurwitz and Pasek & Paul and performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone won Best Original Song. 

Meanwhile, edging out competition from Rag N’ Bone Man and Raye, R&B singer Ray BLK won the BBC Music’s Sound of 2017. Alumni of this honour include Adele, Mika, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith and Years & Years. 

Little Mix, Skepta and Rihanna lead this year’s 2017 BRIT Awards nominations with three nods apiece. Little Mix who is now the longest reigning girl band with their fourth album Glory Days since the Spice Girls’ Spice with five non-consecutive weeks at the top is nominated for Best British Group, Best British Single for Shout Out To My Ex and Video of the Year for Hair. Skepta who scooped the 2016 Mercury Music Prize for his fourth album Konnichiwa is up for British Male Artist, British Breakthrough Act and Album of the Year. Rihanna has been nominated for International Female as well as for her featured hit Calvin Harris’ This Is What You Came For in both Best British Single and Video of the Year. 

Moving onto chart news, in the US Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane’s Black Beatles was replaced by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk’s Starboy after struggling 8 non-consecutive weeks at No.2. However, Black Beatles replaced Starboy in the second week only to be overthrown by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert’s Bad and Boujee. In the fourth week, Ed Sheeran’s surprise single Shape of You from his upcoming album ÷ topped the chart, thus leading to four different singles at the top during the month. Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill debuted at No.6 on the chart. 

In the UK, Clean Bandit featuring Anne Marie and Sean Paul’s Rockabye began the year at the top and remained there for two weeks before being replaced by Ed Sheeran’s mammoth hit Shape of You which stayed at the top during the last week. Close behind Shape of You, Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill debuted at No.2 and Zara Larsson’s I Would Like and Jax Jones featuring Raye’s You Don’t Know Me peaked at No.2 and No.3 respectively during the month. 

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1. Sia - Move your body 
2. The Chainsmokers - Paris 
3. JP Cooper - September song
4. Starley - Call on me 
5. Snakehips & MØ - Don't leave 
6. Tinie Tempah ft. Tinashe - Text from your ex

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!