Latest news with #ElectricLadyStudios
New York Times
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Is She Jazz? Is She Pop? She's Laufey, and She's a Phenomenon.
For Laufey, 2024 was a whirlwind year. 2025 may be even wilder. Last year, the indie singer-songwriter, who cannot be described without a flurry of hyphenated hybrids — Icelandic-Chinese, jazz-pop-classical, TikTok-trad — became a breakout star with a quirky pop style that draws equally from Taylor Swift and the romantic whimsy of midcentury musicals. She won a Grammy Award and attended the Met Gala in a rosé-colored princess gown and, in perhaps the ultimate orchestra-nerd Easter egg, a veil embroidered with a Bach fugue. In an interview this spring, as she prepared to release her third studio album, 'A Matter of Time,' Laufey, 26, was still practically glowing over those accomplishments. But seated at a control console at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where she recorded three of the album's 14 songs, she also cataloged the jitters and anxieties she felt being thrust into the machinery of fame. 'I wanted 2025 to be this year where I was less anxious,' she said, 'and instead of walking meekly onto the red carpets or meekly into relationships, I wanted to walk with confidence.' 'And I wanted to write a country song,' Laufey continued. She paused a beat. 'Country-ish,' she amended herself, and then pushed a button to play 'Clean Air' — a twangy starting-over ballad that she said was partly inspired by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris's 'Trio' albums from the 1980s and '90s. In just a few years, Laufey — her name is properly pronounced with a vowel unfamiliar to most English speakers, but she answers to LAY-vay — has become a phenomenon almost without comparison in contemporary pop. Even in an age of scrambled genres, she stands out as a master code-switcher who cites inspiration from Prokofiev and Chet Baker yet has racked up more than five billion streams with concise, witty earworms that paint a glamorous wonderland shaded with the second guessings of a Gen Z diarist. Despite ruffling some feathers among the conservative gatekeepers of jazz, she has cultivated a vast fan base online and this fall will embark on her first arena tour, including two nights at Madison Square Garden. And she has big fans. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
7NEWS
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Australians don't care enough about Aussie music says Ben Lee in self-described ‘rant'
Australian musician Ben Lee says the local music industry keeps making the same mistake when it comes to supporting homegrown talent— and he's not the only one who thinks so. Lee, who has been making music since 1993, said he has watched countless Australian artists struggle for recognition at home, only to find success overseas. In a self-described 'rant' during his Weirder Together podcast with wife and co-host, actress Ione Skye, Lee said it's an experience he knows firsthand. 'I'm not hearing people in the Australian music industry talking about it,' he said. 'It really highlights for me how this is such an ongoing issue we go through over and over, where Aussie artists that don't fit the pop mainstream get discovered by overseas audiences and overseas parts of the industry.' Loading Instagram Post The Sydney-born singer-songwriter, whose career took off as a teenager with indie band Noise Addict, has enjoyed international success with hits such as Catch My Disease and We're All In This Together. He famously didn't have a commercial hit until his fourth album — and says it was overseas support, largely from the US, that got him there. 'The support that got me there all came internationally,' Lee said. 'Australia needs a pathway where we can get behind artists.' Lee pointed to Melbourne musician Ecca Vandal as a current example of Australia's 'blind spot' for its own talent. Vandal, known for blending rock, funk and hip hop, is recording her next release at New York's legendary Electric Lady Studios with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. But Lee says her achievements are barely discussed back home. He also highlighted how bands such as 2025 BRIT Award nominees Amyl & The Sniffers and post-punk act Radio Free Alice struggled to get traction in Australia before building audiences in the UK. 'Aussie artists that don't fit the pop mainstream get discovered by overseas audiences and overseas parts of the industry. And Australia doesn't get behind them,' Lee said. He warns that unless this changes, Australia risks losing its 'most radical and interesting artists' to international markets; unless they conform to the pop mainstream. 'I felt that in my own career,' he said. While Lee admits there isn't a simple fix, he believes independent platforms need to play a bigger role in showcasing diverse Australian artists. 'We just need more of these grassroots platforms that have a different goal in mind,' he said. 'Australia needs a pathway where we can get behind artists that actually offer alternatives and aren't designed to be funnelled into the top 10.' Lee's comments have sparked a wave of support from within the Australian music community. Ecca Vandal herself thanked Lee for speaking out, while Ella Hooper — best known for her work with Killing Heidi — weighed in, writing: 'Aus is criminally slow in supporting their own tastemakers.' Jet drummer and backing vocalist Chris Cester echoed the sentiment, reminding fans his own band was 'ignored' in Australia until they landed on the cover of iconic UK music magazine NME.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde Showed Most of Her Album to an Unexpected Artist Before It Dropped
Jack Antonoff may not have had a hand in creating Lorde's new album, Virgin, but the Grammy winner showed her upcoming body of work to another man of the same name: Jack Harlow. While they seem like an unexpected duo, the artists actually ran into each other at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where Lorde frequently works on music. 'Jack Harlow was working on Electric Lady when we were there towards the end of the record and somehow ended up getting most of the album played to him,' Lorde told Apple Music's Zane Lowe during an interview surrounding her follow-up to 2021's Solar Power. She added, 'It was a very funny, cool link. He's such a sweetheart. But he was like, 'Your bars are...' He was like, 'These are bars.' I was like, 'Your words, not mine.'' 'But it just is this sort of rolling cadence and physicality, and within that, I'm trying to make myself laugh. I'm trying to make my eyebrow raise. I'm trying to kind of... I don't know, just keep it feeling super alive,' she said of the project. Elsewhere during the conversation, the 'Hammer' hitmaker opened up about how she navigates fame now versus when she was thrust into the spotlight at 16. 'When I'm in the studio or when I'm in America, I'm an artist. When I go home to New Zealand, I'm not an artist and I turn that part of myself off. It's impossible, obviously,' she shared. She continued, 'I've realized now, and, again, this speaks to the trying to find this purest version of yourself, the purest version of me is famous out in the world. It's just that she's maybe in a garden experiencing ego death in the middle of the night on a heroic dose. I definitely had the sense with this, because an inextricable part of this album is that, yeah, I did a lot of psychedelics and really tried to break myself all the way down.' For more moments from Lorde's interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, watch the full conversation below. You Might Also Like Here's What NOT to Wear to a Wedding Meet the Laziest, Easiest Acne Routine You'll Ever Try
Cosmopolitan
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
How Lorde Ended Up Showing Most of Her Album, ‘Virgin,' to Jack Harlow
Jack Antonoff may not have had a hand in creating Lorde's new album, Virgin, but the Grammy winner showed her upcoming body of work to another man of the same name: Jack Harlow. While they seem like an unexpected duo, the artists actually ran into each other at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where Lorde frequently works on music. 'Jack Harlow was working on Electric Lady when we were there towards the end of the record and somehow ended up getting most of the album played to him,' Lorde told Apple Music's Zane Lowe during an interview surrounding her follow-up to 2021's Solar Power. She added, 'It was a very funny, cool link. He's such a sweetheart. But he was like, 'Your bars are...' He was like, 'These are bars.' I was like, 'Your words, not mine.'' 'But it just is this sort of rolling cadence and physicality, and within that, I'm trying to make myself laugh. I'm trying to make my eyebrow raise. I'm trying to kind of... I don't know, just keep it feeling super alive,' she said of the project. Elsewhere during the conversation, the 'Hammer' hitmaker opened up about how she navigates fame now versus when she was thrust into the spotlight at 16. 'When I'm in the studio or when I'm in America, I'm an artist. When I go home to New Zealand, I'm not an artist and I turn that part of myself off. It's impossible, obviously,' she shared. She continued, 'I've realized now, and, again, this speaks to the trying to find this purest version of yourself, the purest version of me is famous out in the world. It's just that she's maybe in a garden experiencing ego death in the middle of the night on a heroic dose. I definitely had the sense with this, because an inextricable part of this album is that, yeah, I did a lot of psychedelics and really tried to break myself all the way down.' For more moments from Lorde's interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, watch the full conversation below.
India.com
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
Lana Del Rey Excited For Forthcoming Tour When She Celebrated Her Birthday
Los Angeles: Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, who is known for 'Summertime Sadness', is celebrating exciting milestones. Recently, the singer posted about her 40th birthday on Instagram, which she spent with her loved ones, reports 'People' magazine. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LANA DEL REY (@honeymoon) The singer wrote in the caption, "Just a couple in-laws and a baby. Thank you for sharing your birthday with me cancer queen Phoenix. I'm still convinced I gotta be 50/50 Gemini tho, that would explain all three Lil vibes I got going on all the time. So excited to see everybody starting tomorrow on tour and for all the folks joining us. Truly thank you thank you love you'. As per 'People' magazine, the post featured a picture of her holding two birthday cakes in a matching camo set. Standing with the singer is her husband, Jeremy Dufrene, posing in a matching camo shirt and shorts. She married the alligator tour guide in September 2024, weeks after going pubic with their relationship while attending model Karen Elson's wedding to Electric Lady Studios owner Lee Foster. Lana Del Rey is performing a limited number of shows this summer throughout the U.K., making stops in Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, Dublin and London in late June and early July. The 'West Coast' singer then heads to perform in Missouri on August 3. The Grammy-nominated artist released two new country-inspired songs in April, 'Henry, Come On' and 'Bluebird'. She also has a new album in the works. Originally titled 'Lasso' and then changed to 'The Right Person Will Stay', the project was supposed to come out in May but the release date was delayed. "I'm really happy for this album to be moving along. I do have a lot more to say (about) that ... I mean, you do know it's not going to come on time right? Like... should I even tell you that the name changed again?" she said in a since-deleted Instagram Reel from April. In October, she told 'People' and 'Entertainment Weekly' about taking her time with the album, "I think all the songs have been Americana, and I want to wait to see what the musical atmosphere feels like'. 'Because I don't usually feel like I need a pause in the creation process', she added.
