Category Archives: The Daily

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Stranger Things Is Back!

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Just like you, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the return of Stranger Things – and July 4th it arrived! Not only did we get a brand new monster, The Duffer Brothers once again expertly recreated life in small town Hawkins Indiana in the summer of 1985.
They’ve always been good at 80’s musical references, but this year they really leaned into the movie & TV tributes; season 3 contains nods to Star Wars, The Terminator, Rambo and Die Hard. But movies themselves play a bigger part this season, thanks to the arrival of a new multiplex at the Starcourt Mall. The crew slide into a special sneak peek of Day of The Dead, and hide out from Russian baddies during a screening of Back To The Future. Plus – no spoilers – there’s one more movie soundtrack that plays a BIG part in saving the world this time around.
Superfans can find a behind the scenes tour with the cast here and some funny interviews with the show’s stars by Mr. Clarke actor Randy Havens here. Plus we’ve collected the best music from this season in a brand new station – relieve the 80’s with The Twenty: Stranger Things 3 right now! Check it out here.

Want To Be BTS’ Manager?

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BTS continue to dominate globally with their K-pop sound, and now enlisted members of the BTS Army have a way to get even closer to RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook – a new app called BTS World.

The game invites you to travel back in time to “manage” the guys from their 2012 debut on – everything from seeking them out and getting them to sign contracts, to styling them and building a relationship with each individual member, which allows you to “chat” and “FaceTime” with different members of the crew.

If controlling the guys through an app is a little too weird for you, you can also sit back and enjoy BTS in concert in their upcoming film, Bring the Soul: The Movie coming in August! It's the third big screen release from BTS, and follows them on the European leg of their 2018 Love Yourself tour. This time around, the members are providing their own recap; the official synopsis reads, “On the day following the final concert of their Europe tour, on a rooftop in Paris, BTS tells their very own stories. From experiencing new cities to performing in front of thousands of ARMY across the globe. A glimpse into BTS’ world away from the stage, featuring intimate group discussions alongside spectacular concert performances from the tour. Shining brighter than any light on the stage, now the group invites us behind the spotlight.”

BTS fans can always enjoy their latest releases on LiveXLive! Check out new songs from the BTS World soundtrack featuring Zara Larsson, Charlie XCX and Juice WRLD on New Pop Now or listen to The Twenty: BTS for even more background on the Bangtan Boys!

Country PRIDE

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It’s Pride Month, and Jake Owen Instagrammed his support for his friends and coworkers in the LGBT community, saying, “I’m inspired by people loving people no matter who you are.” So he googled “gayest songs of all time” (yes, really) and put his own spin on Cher’s “Believe” along with a message to love everyone. Check it out here.

P.S. Haters need not comment. One who did so on Jake’s post, saying she was sick that she had tickets to his show, got the following response:

BOOM. Mic drop. Happy Pride, y’all.

BET Awards: The Recap

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“The Lord is Coming,” one of his angels wears blue and inspires us all. The Queen is also a servant that’s here to stay and that “one negro” who is a King, opened the doors to his people and shown them how to build their own Kingdoms."

The 2019 BET Awards took place at the Microsoft Theater at LA Live Los Angeles on June 23rd, and the baton was officially handed over to a new generation of stars. Two of entertainment’s most impactful legends, however, evoked ruminating thoughts, praise and dancing. Lots of dancing and crooning.

Mary J. Blige had the most talked about performance, hands down, and the 2019 BET Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was introduced by Rihanna. “Happy Mary. Sad Mary. Mad Mary. No more drama Mary. Dancing Mary. We’re here for all of it,” Rihanna proclaimed.

MJB then took the stage, giving a speech in which she talked about the love for her family, the “healed relationship” with her onetime estranged father (who she has sang about mistreating her through the years).  Meanwhile, Tyler Perry didn’t need any assistance from his box office beloved alter ego Madea to bring the house down accepting his “Ultimate Icon” award. He just needed his truth and insight. “Rather than being an icon,” he said, "I want to be an inspiration.”

Nipsey Hussle was named Humanitarian of the Year and his family, led by Lauren London, accepted the award on his behalf. As for the actual awards, Lil Baby won Best New Artist and Cardi B—who performed “Clout” with her husband Offset (he garnered heavy praise for his dancing and later Tweeted he would be incorporating more choreography in his stage shows)--won Album of the Year for "Invasion of Privacy."

QC were among the big winners at the 2019 ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Awards as Coach and P, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, The Migos, City Girls’ Yung Miami and Cardi B were all in attendance. Cardi took home the 2019 Songwriter of the Year. The QC family also held it down on Saturday night at Staples Center, performing in the BET Experience concert. Cardi, who was recently indicted for allegedly masterminding and bank rolling an assault on two strippers, told the crowd she was not going to jail. Of course she brought out all the hits as well. On Friday, Meek Mill, YG and A Boogie were the marquee names for the BET Experience setting the stage for the activity filled weekend.

GIRL

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Yeah, Maren Morris did pose for Playboy, and she’s not sorry.

She also did an interview – did you know those were in that magazine? And most of it is about her career, and learning to love herself, and understanding that vulnerability isn’t a flaw.

She talks about those body shamers and slut shamers on social media: “Anytime someone is courageous or doesn’t try to blend in, it pisses people off.”

She says body shamers are asking to be shut down and she doesn’t regret a single time she’s done it.

Oh yeah, and she’s topless in several photos. She was inspired, she says, by Dolly Parton, who shocked the world when she graced the cover of the magazine in 1978. Other artists, too. “So many of the moves Dolly made in her career were about bucking the status quo, especially when it came to sexuality and gender norms within country music,” she says. “As a woman in country music—as a woman in any genre—it always fascinated me. So when I heard this magazine wanted to interview and photograph me, I thought, Okay, I’ve seen a lot of wonderful spreads you guys have done with artists I love, such as Halsey, so what the hell?”

Read the whole interview (and see the stunning photos) here.

Hip Hop’s Top 40

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Every week, LiveXLive counts down the biggest urban hits, as determined by YOU! We look at the songs that received the most plays, hearts and shares over the past seven days, and then compile an exclusive chart. The results are hosted by Raymond T, LiveXLive’s official voice of Hip Hop and R&B. What’s the deal with this week’s countdown? Here what Raymond has to say:

"Fresh for you every Friday, every show is full of debuts, surprises and special features.  Youngster YK Osiris, who just made the XXL Magazine "Freshman Class of 2019," makes the biggest jump of the week with his big hit "Worth It."  Lil Baby & Gunna have been dominating the #1 spot since the top of 2019 but, with summer now officially here, there has been a lot of heat dropping from some of your favorite artists.  Catch a stream on the job or on the go and see if your favorites made the cut…SALUTE!”

Check out your Weekly Hip Hop/R&B Countdown right HERE! 

Taylor Just Showed Up To Pride Month

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Some fans might be surprised to see Taylor Swift show up to sing at the Stonewall Inn for a celebration honoring both Pride Month and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. But if you’re surprised, you haven’t been paying attention.
Taylor Swift has been notoriously apolitical in her career up until last fall, but this month she’s speaking out – she wore a rainbow colored leotard to perform at Wango Tango June First, where she told the audience she believes in equality, encouraging them to stand up for each other and stick together.
Now she’s taken that message a step further with her new song, You Need To Calm Down, which shouts out her gay fans, and a video that features prominent gay, trans, and non-binary celebrities and entertainers. At the end of the video she includes the message “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally. Please sign my petition for senate support of the equality act on change dot org.” You can access her petition here.
As far back as April Tay was showing support for equality. That’s when she donated $113,000 to an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, the Tennessee Equality Project, in her home state. She even included a handwritten note thanking them for the work they do.
It’s easy to criticize Taylor for taking such a long time to start using her voice to call for social change but in this case it truly is better late than never. I hope she continues to speak up!
Celebrate Pride Month with LiveXLive’s Pride station and hear Taylor Swift’s new song on Today’s Hits! 

Silversun Pickups: We’re Basically BFFs

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We love Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups so much that we invite them to the LiveXLive studios whenever they’re in the neighborhood. They recently popped in for the third time to share some of their favorite music, including tracks from their brand new album “Widow’s Weeds.” They busted out all kinds of great songs for us, from the Beatles to Daft Punk to Hall & Oates to Donna Summer, plus they let us in on some fun facts about their band and their current obsessions.

 

Here are the top 5 things we learned:

  1. Brian is fascinated by David Bowie’s “Labyrinth”-era teeth and codpiece (Same, Brian. Same.)
  2. When listening to music, Nikki hears the bassline first. She collected songs with basslines she loves to inspire her before recording “Widow’s Weeds.”
  3. Brian and Nikki have heard their music being played in bars all over the world…but they don’t always recognize their own songs.
  4. In L.A., Brian and his friend have a DJ gig where they exclusively play songs from old movie soundtracks.
  5. Nikki likes to look at maps of Westeros from her favorite series, “Game of Thrones.”

 

Hear all of Brian and Nikki’s music picks, plus the stories behind them, on Silversun Pickups: I Am The DJ.

Pop Goes Country

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Right now, everyone is talking about Lil’ Nas X and whether “Old Town Road” is or is not a country song. For the record, according to Live X Live listeners, at least the version where he collaborates with Billy Ray Cyrus is – it started on Nashville Now and so many people hit the heart button, we put it on Country Hits too, and from there it became so popular with our country listeners, it’s now in the top 40 country songs on our Weekly Country Countdown.

But Lil’ Nas X isn’t the first artist from outside the genre to make a “country” song that got people arguing about what is and is not country, nor is he the first to add an unexpected country collaborator to the song. So we took a look at some of the most unexpected collaborations between country artists and those from other genres, dug up all the back stories, and put them together in a new station:

The Twenty: Pop Goes Country

Remember the song that failed for Sting in pop, but when he added a country artist it became a hit? How about the boy band and the man band that worked together to make a pop hit one in country, too? Or the pot-and-KFC-fueled friendship that resulted in THREE unlikely collaborations? There’s a Columbian with a hillbilly, a singing competition winner and a rap star, and a rock legend who did a whole album with a bluegrass legend. Those stories are all in there, along with others that have fascinating stories.

You gotta hear it! And let me know what you think! Tweet us at @livexlive and @jesswrightradio.

Inside The Mind of Billie Eilish

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No pop star has more buzz than Billie Eilish right now. She’s got fans in Dave Grohl, Elton John & Billie Joe Armstrong. Not to mention a number one album and a dedicated group of fans making her one of the most streamed artists on the planet.
Billie’s music can be polarizing, and it’s no surprise that her brain functions on a different level than most of the rest of us. The 17 year old phenom explains how she farms song ideas from her dream journal and her stream of consciousness art habit. She also stresses the importance of music videos being able to stand on their own as a separate art form entirely from the song they’re for, and talks about working closely with her brother.
She’s on her When We All Fall Asleep world tour right now, and we’re helping to get you hyped with a DNA station full of her biggest hits, her inspirations, collaborations, and artists who are coming up alongside her. Check out Billie Eilish: DNA now!