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The Spotify exodus continues
Australian psych rock band King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard became the latest band to pull their music from Spotify in protest at the streaming giant's CEO investing in Helsing, an AI company that recently expanded into military strike drone manufacturing. They join a growing list of artists stepping away from the platform alongside Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu.
Put some respect on Pinkpantheress's name
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter this week, Pinkpantheress expressed her dissatisfaction with the way her self-produced music is received in some quarters. “People are less willing to listen to electronic music that is made by a Black woman. That’s just fact,” she told the publication. Later, she said that "[I] can feel a little bit like I’m hitting all these markers and it still feels like I’m getting overlooked, simply because there’s a lot of people that don’t necessarily understand what I represent, nor do they want to take a look because I think it just doesn’t make sense for them.”
Hayley Williams dropped a surprise solo album (or did she?)
Paramore's Hayley Williams delighted fans this week when she shared 17 new solo songs in old school fashion, dropping the tranche of music on her website and giving people a passcode via her Good Dye Young hair brand. The songs are now on streaming platforms but, interestingly, are not presented as an album but a loose collection of singles. Williams has hinted that she wants to leave it to fans to make their own playlists and running orders for the songs, creating the shape of this body of work for themselves.
Diddy's latest legal moves revealed
Sean "Diddy" Combs is currently in jail waiting sentecing after being found guilty on transportation to engage in prostitution charges last month. Attorneys for Diddy this week filed a new motion for his temporary release, asking a federal judge to release the rap mogul on a $50 million bond ahead of his sentecing in October.
Additionally, Combs' legal team also filed a new motion to overturn his conviction claiming that his notorious sex parties, known as “freak-offs,” were legal pornography shoots protected by the First Amendment.
Tyler, The Creator really wanted to impress Clipse
Tyler, the Creator revealed that he recorded his contribution to the new Clipse album “79 to 100 times.” Tyler appears on the song “P.O.V.” and told Hot 97 that he was determined to impress his idols Pusha T, Malice (and producer Pharrell).
“It took me about 79 to 100 times to do it, and I almost texted Pusha, ‘I don’t think this is gonna work,'” Tyler said. “It’s been a few times I’ve gotten nervous and trying to nail that verse with two of my Mount Rushmores, produced by Mount Rushmore, was like I can’t fuck this up for me.”
Interestingly, I re-wrote this news round-up 250 times to get it just so.