Eminem drops surprise album, advocates changes to gun laws

Rapper Eminem once again dropped a surprise album, releasing “Music to Be Murdered By” on Friday — along with a video that calls for changes to gun laws.

The follow-up to 2018’s “Kamikaze” — also released without warning — was announced on Twitter just after midnight.


The Detroit rapper’s new music video for “Darkness,” one of the album’s 20 tracks, depicts a shooting at a concert. The lyrics and storyline of the video specifically allude to the 2017 mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. It closes with audio and video footage of news broadcasts from other recent mass shooting around the U.S. and an appeal to register to vote.

“When will this end? When enough people care,” reads the text at the end of the video. “Register to vote at vote.gov. Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America.”

A link to the music video on Eminem’s website encourages viewers to contact or visit several gun violence prevention organizations, including Everytown for Gun Safety and Sandy Hook Promise.

The cover art features blood spatter and a bearded Eminem clad in a suit and fedora and holding a shovel. An alternate cover features the same splatter, with a now hatless Eminem holding both a hatchet and a gun to his head in an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 album of the same name: “Inspired by the master, Uncle Alfred!” Eminem tweeted.

“Music to Be Murdered By” is Eminem’s 11th studio album, according to his website.

Among many collaborators, the album features Ed Sheeran, Skylar Grey, Anderson .Paak and Juice WRLD, the 21-year-old rapper who died in December.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Music Review: The struggle is real for Katy Perry

NEW YORK — She once roared. But now, we’ll just call it meowing.

Katy Perry, one of the top voices in contemporary pop over the last decade, limps into her fourth album with a collection of songs that don’t have a cohesive feel or message. It’s a random hodgepodge of tracks that don’t spark or shine; some of the tunes are cute, but most are forgettable.

“Witness” doesn’t offer a fresh, or refreshed, Perry — the only thing new about her is that haircut.

Vocally, she doesn’t sound inspired or inspiring. And while “Witness” isn’t expected to be the year’s best album, what was expected was some fun, killer pop hits.

Lead single, “Chained to the Rhythm,” is watered-down reggae pop without any real reggae flavor, and current single, the Nicki Minaj-assisted “Swish Swish,” is a miss-miss.

“Witness” is Perry’s first album without mega-producer Dr. Luke, who is currently at war with pop singer Kesha over sexual abuse claims (he denies her allegations). Max Martin, Dr. Luke’s former mentor, is still present though, along with big names like Sia, Jeff Bhasker and DJ Mustard.

But none of them come to Perry’s rescue. The beginning of “Hey Hey Hey” sounds like “Dark Horse,” Perry’s last No. 1 hit, and the hook echoes Avril Lavigne. “Bigger Than Me” comes off like a leftover track from her 2013 album, “Prism.” And the title track is a bore.

Perry finds the right momentum on the dreamy “Tsunami,” produced by Mike WiLL-Made It; “Bon Appetit,” chosen as the official second single for mere minutes, is upbeat and catchy; and “Power,” with little lyrics, is a shining effort thanks to multi-instrumentalist Jack Garratt’s layered, experimental sound.

But overall, “Witness” falls short. The album’s songs are almost as awkward as Perry’s recent actions, from the weird dancing onstage with rap group Migos to her “joke” about comparing her hair to former U.S. President Barack Obama. It is also the first time Perry is launching an album without a monster hit behind her.

“Swish swish bish/Another one in the basket,” she sings. “Witness” is more like an air-ball.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Harry Styles channels glam rock in post-1D debut

One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles on Friday released a ballad with touches of 1970s glam rock as he became the latest member of the boy band to go solo.

“Sign of the Times” is the first solo single by the 23-year-old English singer who is expected to put out a full album at a later date. The song starts with a dark chord progression on a piano before quickly building power as Styles shifts his voice into a higher range.

Drums and organ give way to electric guitar riffs on a grandiose chorus with clear influences of late legend David Bowie’s early glam rock and, to some extent, Queen. But unlike the path-breaking Bowie, lyrically Styles keeps things simple with a chorus that goes, “Just stop your crying / It’s a sign of the times,” although the context of the sorrow is unspecified.

At around five and a half minutes, “Sign of the Times” comes off as a statement by Styles on a new artistic direction after the succinct pop ditties of One Direction.

Styles, thin like Bowie with flowing hair, becomes the latest singer to go solo from One Direction, which went on indefinite hiatus in 2015 after five years of packing in stadiums with screaming pre-teens.

Most prominently, Zayn Malik — who left One Direction amid a rift — has found success with a solo career in which he has parted with the boy band’s squeaky-clean image for a sultry sound and style driven by R&B. Niall Horan went on a different path when he put out a solo single last year, going for stripped-down acoustic pop.

Styles worked on “Sign of the Times” with prominent US producer Jeff Bhasker, a frequent collaborator of rap superstar Kanye West who has also gone to the studio with Taylor Swift — whom Styles used to date.

Record label Columbia said Styles would later this month release a video for the song shot on Scotland’s Isle of Skye by French director Yoann Lemoine, who has worked with Swift and Katy Perry.

“Sign of the Times” has no obvious connection to a song of a similar title by Prince, a dark 1987 take on AIDS, drug abuse, and other social ills.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net