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Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Everything We Really Know About Cardi B's ‘Am I the Drama?'
After teasing her sophomore album nearly every year since her groundbreaking 2018 debut, Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B finally announced that it will drop on Sept. 19. This week, she revealed the cover art for her next body of work, aptly titled Am I the Drama?, after serving as high-profile gossip fodder for just about as long as she's been making hits (to be fair, she did get her mainstream start on VH1's reality TV drama factory, Love & Hip-Hop). Surrounded by foreboding ravens on the ominous album artwork she shared, Cardi B is happy to play the villain this time around – she's even selling merch that says so. (Avian fun fact: A rep for Cardi B confirms to Rolling Stone that those birds are in fact ravens, not crows, as has been erroneously reported.) In anticipation of Am I the Drama?, we're running down everything we know about this album and the long road that led to it. For her June 2024 Rolling Stone cover story, Cardi B let us watch her work on the long-anticipated album in studios across the country, including Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and New York's iconic Jungle City Studios. She was anxious – and, in New York, feeling sick – but relentless about making the best music she could. 'I take my music so fucking seriously that that's why I don't put it out,' she told us at the time. 'Because if it's not perfect to my ear, if every fucking word doesn't sound like it's pronounced right, if the beat is overpowering the words or the words is overpowering the beat, I don't want to put it out.' More from Rolling Stone Loyle Carner on How Fatherhood and Guitars Opened Up His Musical World Cardi B Finally Announces New Album 'Am I the Drama?,' Shares Release Date and Cover Art Karol G, Cardi B, Lorde, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week It seems that was true for her latest single, 'Outside,' the first new song of Cardi's set to be featured on Am I the Drama? per an incomplete tracklist on Apple Music. It's both a celebration of her independence and a no-holds-barred diss where she says, 'Next time you see your mama, tell her how she raised a bitch.' On Instagram Live, she admitted that she didn't want to release the song after it leaked around the top of the month, but fans clamored for it and her label, Atlantic Records, implored her to put it out. She publicly apologized to Atlantic for being 'very bratty, very mean, very nasty' about this – via a since-deleted post on X, she had even threatened to put the label on blast before the song came out. Here's what else we know: Since the wait for this album has now stretched on for nearly seven years, let's just focus on the last 12 months or so, shall we? Last March on Instagram, Cardi B promised that her sophomore album would be released sometime in 2024, but by mid-May, she backpedaled in a heated online exchange with her followers. 'Anyway NO album this year I don't care I'm relaxing,' she wrote on X. Soon after, she deleted the post and her rep confirmed to Rolling Stone that an album in 2024 was still the plan. Atlantic even reposted Cardi's Rolling Stone cover on X, writing, 'Cardi B's upcoming album is one of the most anticipated this year. We can't wait [to] put it out, even if we have to sneak into her studio and take it! 👀' Meanwhile, Cardi did let us know she was dealing with real-life changes and challenges, though it's not clear what impact those may have had on her shifting release date. Unbeknownst to the public, Cardi was pregnant with her third child with her husband Offset, a daughter named Blossom, whose birth she announced last September. That spring, her marriage was on the rocks, with Cardi telling us she wasn't sure about the future. 'I think it through,' she said. 'We think it through, because we do love each other. It's not even about love. We're best friends. And it's like, 'OK. Well, there was a time that I didn't have a best friend, or I didn't have a support system.' It's not even about 'How do you leave a partner?' How do you stop talking to your best friend?' However, by the end of July, Cardi filed for divorce — which she had done before in 2020 — and the couple appear to still be deeply estranged amidst the proceedings. Working hard while pregnant or with a newborn on her hip isn't new to Cardi, nor is pushing her career forward in the midst of romantic turmoil. If you remember, Cardi's first daughter, Kulture, was born just months after the release of Invasion of Privacy. By May of this year, Cardi was claiming that her album would have been ready if not for delayed features from her collaborators. 'I really need these fucking features,' Cardi said on Instagram Live. 'I'm not really trying to press or go crazy on these artists because I love them down. But it's like come on now, I need that. I need that right now. Y'all don't want to miss this opportunity.' Well, that, we don't know for sure. She had previously teased that the album would have both new and old faces, and she told Rolling Stone the guests would run the gamut of both rappers and singers. One person she told us she's been obsessed with lately is fellow Bronxite Cash Cobain, whose star as both a producer and a rapper has been rising in the horny, laid-back movement known as sexy drill. In March 2024, Cash played Cardi about 30 tracks he had produced, many of which she loved. 'I was like, 'Damn, now I got to make a lot of choices because I don't want my whole album to sound like this,'' she said. After Cardi announced Am I the Drama?, SZA took to her Instagram comments to say, 'Lemme send this verse chile,' foreshadowing a feature on the album. Cardi has collaborated with SZA several times before, like on 'I Do,' from Invasion of Privacy, Flo Milli's 'Never Lose Me' remix, and Summer Walker's extended version of 'No Love.' Since 'WAP' is featured on the new album's 23-song tracklist, Megan Thee Stallion is already a guaranteed feature, but the rest are toss-ups. Rap veteran Busta Rhymes did make a public plea for Cardi B to call on him to collaborate, so it'll be interesting to see if that worked out for him here. Last year, Cardi told us that she was weighing how much of her personal life to share on the album. 'I really want to talk about the life changes that I've been dealing with the past six, seven years,' she said. 'But then it's just like, I feel like people don't deserve to know because people use my pain against me.' She did seem to channel some of that pain into 'Outside,' sharing on Instagram that 'I made this song a few months ago when I was very, very angry…I had to change some bars because I was angry, honey.' In the middle of recording last year (and in between our two interviews), Cardi B began therapy to help her cope with the life stressors that were distracting her. 'It was just too much going on,' Cardi said when I asked about her change of heart, as she had expressed skepticism about therapy prior. 'And when there's too much going on, it fucks up my work.' Her longtime recording engineer Evan LaRay Brunson told us making music involves a 'roller coaster of emotions' for Cardi. 'When we good, we knocking them out. Verse after verse, hook, ad-libs. I'm like, 'You're done quick. You sure?' But when she's going through it, it's going to be a long day.' At the time, she wanted the album to reflect every part of her. 'I'm a different person every single day,' she said. 'When I'm in a good mood and I'm with my friends, [I'm] like, 'Damn, I want my shit to be played in this club.' But then I might be mad with my man, so it's like now I want to do this song. But then I want to do a pop record. I want to do my sing-y shit.' While anything is possible, especially with songs as established as 'Up' and 'WAP' on the album, Cardi did play us some of the music she was hoping to include — just the beats, though. There was a sensual Afro-Caribbean number. There was a track she called 'Better Than You' which was reminiscent of UGK and OutKast's 'Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You),' with a pitched-up vocal sample, rich, violin-like synths, and rolling Southern drums. Cardi noted that its sound — courtesy of the producer Vinylz, whom she's known since her days as a dancer — was brand-new for her. 'I feel like the beat is not a beat you could get rowdy on,' she said. 'It's a real calm beat. And I had two choices, I could do more of an inspirational type of record — 'I used to grind all my life' — but then I decided to be like, 'No, I'm going to shit on you bitches.' ' She played a beat for a song she called 'Pick It Up,' 'meant for pop radio, with high-femme twinkles and chimes and keys that were distorted like a fun-house mirror. Then she played a drill beat in the sexy style of Cash Cobain, but produced by her regular collaborator SwanQo. It was called 'Don't Do Too Much,' and was glittery and animated, with a playful whistle as its through line. Cardi said she gets some jokes off on that track. 'If it was up to me,' she said, 'my whole album would sound like drill.' According to her interviews last year, yes. She was adamant that touring is how she learned to leave an impact on her fans since her mixtape days. At the time, she said she wasn't performing live as much, simply because she didn't have new music. 'If I was doing things for money,' she said, 'I would put out music every month because nothing pays me more than shows. But I care about how my music sound. I care about my quality. I care about giving something special every single time.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Wales Online
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Cardi B announces release of new album Am I The Drama?
Cardi B announces release of new album Am I The Drama? Posting on Instagram, the 32-year-old, whose full name is Belcalis Cephus, shared the news that she will be releasing her new album, Am I The Drama?, on September 19. Cardi B Hip-hop star Cardi B has announced the release of her first album in seven years. Posting on Instagram, the 32-year-old, whose full name is Belcalis Cephus, shared the news that she will be releasing her new album, Am I The Drama?, on September 19. This will be the US rapper's second studio album and the first released in seven years since her Grammy Award-winning debut record, Invasion Of Privacy. Posting the album cover on her Instagram page, the singer said: "AM I THE DRAMA? My new album is out September 19th!" Fans flooded the comments section to show their support, with some posting fire emojis, while others wrote "let's gooo". The hip-hop star rose to fame on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York before she launched her solo music career. Article continues below She has since been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards and secured her first in 2019 for best rap album for Invasion Of Privacy. The album included hit songs Bodak Yellow and I Like It featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin and reached number five in the UK album chart. The rapper has continued to be a prominent name in the industry by releasing hit collaborations, including joining Maroon 5 for 2018's Girls Like You and Megan Thee Stallion for 2020's WAP, which reached number one in the UK singles chart. Article continues below She also featured in a few songs with the rap group Migos, which her former partner Offset is part of. The pair share three children together, Kulture and Wave, as well as Blossom, who was born in September. The rapper has filed for divorce from Offset and is seeking primary custody of their children, according to the Associated Press, citing court records.
Buzz Feed
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
28 Co-Stars Who Hated Each Other In Real Life
Workplace tension is something most of us have dealt with. Honestly, I can't think of a single job I've had —except BuzzFeed— where there wasn't at least one person I absolutely couldn't stand. Maybe that says more about me than anything else, but the truth is, we're often forced to work alongside people we don't get along with. And that can be tough—sometimes even anxiety-inducing. At the end of the day, it's all about the check, so it's imperative that we don't get caught up in what we want but rather, what we need collectively. For many thespians in Hollywood, this type of friction can lead to some significant tension that manages to escape the workplace. It's not hard to think about Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, who are currently embroiled in litigation surrounding declarations of sexual harassment and defamation, among other claims. This is perhaps an extreme example, but historically, there have been many moments where co-stars, despite how much chemistry they share on screen, despise each other's guts. Most times, we only find out about it after the fact. Below are 14 instances where Hollywood co-stars who played lovers or friends on-screen disliked each other when the cameras went off. Tension rose on the set of Charlie's Angels between Bill Murray and Lucy Liu, according to an interview Liu gave to the Los Angeles Times. Liu explained that, after reworking a scene with her co-stars at a time when Murray wasn't on set, he returned and apparently took out some of his aggression toward her. "As we're doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won't get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on," she said. "I was, like, 'Wow, he seems like he's looking straight at me.' I couldn't believe that [the comments] could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time? I literally do the look around my shoulder thing, like, who is he talking to behind me? I say, 'I'm so sorry. Are you talking to me?' And clearly, he was, because then it started to become a one-on-one communication."Despite having "the least amount of privilege in terms of creatively participating," Liu said she stood her ground against Murray. The box office success of Magic Mike aside, Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer found themselves butting heads off-set, which ultimately led to Pettyfer's non-appearance in Magic Mike XXL. Perhaps one of the most interesting conflicts on a movie set belongs to Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. In a VH1 interview, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes revealed in 2014 that the two had extreme tension with one another when they started filming the 2004 movie. "Ryan came to me, and there's 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, 'Nick come here.' He's doing a scene with Rachel, and he says, 'Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me?'' Cassavetes recalled. ''I said, 'What?' He says, 'I can't. I can't do it with her. I'm just not getting anything from this.'' Despite this, the two ended up developing a strong chemistry with each other and dated from 2005-2007. Julia Roberts' feud with Nick Nolte on the set of I Love Trouble seemingly impacted how the film was received by critics. According to an interview she gave the New York Times in the 90s, she revealed how the two had shared blame for some of their on-set troubles. "From the moment I met him we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally we get on each other's nerves,' Roberts revealed after she was asked about the reputation Nolte developed for being crude on set. '[While he can be] completely charming and very nice, he's also completely disgusting. He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems to go out of his way to repel people. He's a kick." During a 2022 interview, Nolte acknowledged his own shortcomings in their reaction. "I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers. Julia got married at the beginning of that film, and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong.' Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze's chemistry was unmatched in Dirty Dancing. However, their previous encounters on the set of Red Dawn created friction that extended to their on-set attitudes with each other. Grey explained that Swayze often pulled juvenile pranks that rubbed her the wrong way, though she revealed he later tearfully apologized. Then, when they filmed Dirty Dancing, Swayze became frustrated with what he deemed a lack of professionalism, which actually helped make the movie what it was. "When we're doing those dance sequences, and everything, and she's crying, and she's giggling, those moments really work because they're real. They just took pieces of Patrick and Jennifer, working together as attempting to be a dance team, and my frustration. My real frustration. I'm trying to keep this girl serious. I'm trying to keep her from crying, trying to keep her focused, to get past her fear and her ego," he said. However, it seems as though the two ultimately shared an appreciation for one another, their skills, and what they brought to the table. It Ends With Us is probably the best example of on-set feuds between two on-screen lovers. Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, the film's director and her co-star, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign during production. In response, Baldoni countersued and denied the allegations. His countersuit targeted Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist for $400M for defamation, civil extortion, and attempting to take over the film's creative direction, per CBS. On-screen besties Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall apparently weren't quite close on the set of Sex And The City. Though there were reports that the two had their issues, Cattrall made her feelings about Parker clear after the latter expressed condolences for the loss of the former's brother. "I don't need your love and support at this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker," she wrote on Instagram. "My Mom asked me today 'When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?' Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven't already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I'm writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your 'nice girl' persona," she added in the post. Tyrese Gibson, while an eccentric in his own right, has expressed immense disdain for James Franco in the past (although it feels like more of a collective feeling these days). On the set of Annapolis, there was a lot of tension, largely because of Franco's acting methods during the fight scenes, which apparently resulted in actual physical contact. 'I never want to work with him again, and I'm sure he feels the same way. It felt very personal. It was f**ked-up," Gibson stated. Meanwhile, Franco's explained that he's tried to bury the hatchet, though acknowledged that he probably wasn't the easiest to work with either. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his feud with Vin Diesel have become part of the Fast & Furious franchise lore. It began when Diesel talked about the "tough love" he showed Johnson in an attempt to improve his acting chops, leading to on-set tension. Johnson also responded on Instagram, calling his co-star "chicken sh*t" and "candy a**." However, the two have seemingly ended their beef as Diesel shared a photo of the two on Instagram with the caption reading, "All love... Always..." Despite co-starring together on one of the most celebrated series on television, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had a touch of tension on the set of The X-Files. Though it was primarily rumors that the two had issues with each other, they've both separately acknowledged a "strained" relationship, largely due to lengthy work hours. 'I mean, yes, there were definitely periods when we hated each other," she told the Guardian when asked about rumors of tension on set. 'Hate is too strong a word. We didn't talk for long periods of time. It was intense, and we were both pains in the arse for the other at various times.' She noted that the two have a much healthier relationship these days. "But we are closer today than we ever have been." Outside of Chris Rock, there are very few people that Will Smith has engaged in public feuds with. However, when it came to Janet Hubert, who played the original Aunt Viv in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the on-set tension led to her being replaced entirely. During the 2020 Fresh Prince reunion, Smith and Hubert hashed out their differences with Will admitting that he made the set difficult for Janet. "You took all that away from me with your words," Hubert told Smith. "Words can kill. I lost everything. Reputation. Everything, everything. I understand you were able to move forward. You know those words — calling a Black woman 'difficult' in Hollywood is the kiss of death. It's hard enough being a dark-skinned Black woman in this business. I felt it was necessary for us to finally move forward. And I'm sorry I have blasted you to pieces." Hollywood harbors plenty of creeps that are only now getting exposed. But in the case of Marlon Brando, who is still considered one of the greatest actors of all time, his on-set behavior earned him a horrible reputation, especially due to the fallouts with close collaborators, acquaintances, and co-stars. Sophie Loren revealed in her 1963 memoir how inappropriate Brando was on the set of A Countess from Hong Kong. "All of a sudden, he put his hands on me. I turned in all tranquillity and blew in his face, like a cat stroked the wrong way and said, 'Don't you ever dare to do that again. Never again!'' she said. "As I pulverised him with my eyes he seemed small, defenceless, almost a victim of his own notoriety. He never did it again, but it was very difficult working with him after that.' Issues between William Shatner and George Takei began bubbling in the public eye after Takei revealed just how difficult Shatner was to work with. "It's difficult working with someone who is not a team player. The rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work—it's everybody contributing to it,' Takei said about Shatner in 2015. 'But Bill is a wonderful actor, and he knows it, and he likes to have the camera on him all the time.' Years later, Shatner responded. "George has never stopped blackening my name. These people are bitter and embittered. I have run out of patience with them. Why give credence to people consumed by envy and hate?" he said. The feud between Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson began on the set of The Brothers Grimsby, where Wilson alleged that Cohen asked her to engage in unscripted, lewd acts for the film. Before she released her memoir, Rebel Rising, which included a chapter dedicated to the "a*sholes" she worked with in Hollywood, specifically Cohen, who allegedly got a team of lawyers and PR crisis managers to suppress her memoir. Cohen's rep offered The Independent a statement regarding the claims. 'While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby," it read.
Mint
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
How music discovery became predictable
If I could, I'd pay serious money to travel 20-something years back in time to experience Nirvana's ground-breaking album, Nevermind, for the very first time again. Having borrowed a cassette from a schoolfriend, I found an opportune time to go to my parents' room and use the two-in-one music system—a 'deck". This wasn't a parent-friendly record; on Smells Like Teen Spirit, the main guy, Kurt Cobain, screams about his libido repeatedly. While I'd heard one Nirvana song—Come As You Are, via a stray MP3 on someone's CD—I had little idea what was coming next: a sonic thunderstorm that would blow my teenage brain right out of my ears. All of this today sounds like gibberish. 'Two-in-one"? 'Cassette"? 'MP3"? In the early-to-mid-2000s, these were essential terms in the cultural lexicon. Music consumption and discovery, as with every generation prior and since, was for millennials too dictated by the prevailing technology of the time, and indeed its limitations. Only, that particular period is the most tumultuous in recent music history. It was an era of upheaval, transformation, and chaos, as the world shifted from the physical to the digital: cassettes were commonplace and affordable (a standard ₹125), but they were being phased out. CDs were a popular if rather more expensive format. These were found, neatly arranged by name and genre, in brick-and-mortar shops, imagine. MP3s, available for download online, became a convenient and free alternative, existing in a lawless, peer-to-peer digital jungle via file-sharing software Napster and the clones that followed. While no longer a complete novelty, digital music wasn't yet pervasive either. But it was gaining traction, leaving the industry in turmoil as bands lost significant revenue and labels' bottomline got wrecked. Everything was illegal, pirated by amoral music nerds and spread widely by internet anarchists. Starved as we were of a lot of current music that just wouldn't release in India via conventional routes, we hit the download button. These trends defined how young people discovered their music. You could go to a Planet M to window-shop, and you'd end up finding a random band or artist that could ruin your week or change your life. Grey market spaces like Palika Bazaar—an underground and 100% illegal market in the heart of Delhi—became a source for complete (pirated) discographies, sorted into digestible MP3 folders. Cable TV, pre-streaming, was another place to find music. MTV and Channel V and, later, a channel called VH1, would play music videos all day long. NO MORE BARRIER TO ENTRY Musical tastes, for millennials and those preceding them, were shaped by a range of eclectic factors. The most exciting among these were the happy discoveries. The life-changing accidents. A random untitled mix-CD from a friend's friend's friend. A mislabelled song on the pirate software Limewire. Something you stumble upon on VH1 while channel-surfing. The songs you've never heard before, that catch you by surprise. It's this feeling where a greater force takes over your being, and compels you to dig deeper, and find out everything about that band. You have no choice but to start a new obsession immediately. Much of these tools of discovery have now, for reasons good and bad, been rendered obsolete. And while it's tempting to romanticise the past, it was also genuinely exhausting to hunt for music. Nothing ever released here on time; they played the same 50 songs on TV; MP3s were mislabelled and impossible to sift through; downloads took hours, days, weeks; tapes were dying, CDs were pricey. Today, for the price of a single cassette, a hundred-and-bit rupees, I have access to Spotify's entire library of over 100 million songs. (A relevant counterpoint here is that you're only renting this music; it could disappear tomorrow.) There was a prolonged battle for the soul of music but, by the mid-2010s, streaming had won out, becoming the preferred mode of listening globally. The barrier to entry was decimated. There are dozens of streaming platforms—the chief ones being Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music—each one offering (to Indians) affordable prices for their premium versions and free versions with ads. A quick sidenote: streaming platforms are a net evil to society; they've done untold damage to artists by offering them literal peanuts and devaluing art, while training listeners to never pay for what they consume. It's legalised theft. The P2P MP3 era that pioneered digitisation, while not without its problems, had a sense of reckless freedom and idealism to it. That chaos and anarchism has been replaced by a cold-blooded capitalism where the artist gets shafted while the guy above him lines his pockets. Indeed, Spotify—the loudest player in the market—faces regular criticism and has been the subject of high-profile boycotts and walkouts. (They've all returned, hat in hand, as bands are left in a no-win situation, having to pick between fans and principles.) And yet, at the same time the tech has liberated the listener by opening up access in this way. It's all very messy. NEEDLE DROPS We'll come back to streaming since it's such an omnipresent force in the world of discovery. But the olden methods—cable TV, physical stores, and such—have either withered away or been re-interpreted in modern settings. Instead of Channel V late-night broadcasts curated by Luke Kenny, people are discovering music accidentally through 'needle drops" on TV/web series they're watching on second screens. This is a curious inversion; previously, shows would use popular, recognisable songs as a cheat code to signal a pre-determined mood to the viewer. Like how no medical drama could resist throwing in the awful How to Save a Life by the Fray for a while. Now, that arrangement has flipped. Songs on shows—which are experienced differently as the viewer has an existing emotional relationship with the show's characters, as well as visual cues for context—take on new meaning and serve as introduction to an artist. Excited, the viewers rush to YouTube to comment in solidarity. They search online for more needle drops. SEO-driven aggregator websites and click-hungry publications rush to compile a list of all the songs featured on a show, which is duly converted into playlists by fans. There's also the rather more controversial method of discovery: Instagram Reels. There can be an inauthenticity and, if I may, a dishonesty about music written expressly for the purpose of going viral on social media in 30-second teasers. But it works because we all spend an inordinate amount of time on social media. Often, these songs have inescapable hooks. The format of social media short-form videos is such that the same template is reused, recycled, and rejigged during its window of relevance. Just by repeat exposure, these songs can get stuck in one's head and lead the listener on to a path of greater discovery. A lot of music listening, thus, seems to have shifted online. And to the ever-present cellphone. While previously there were different avenues—computers, music systems, Walkman or Discman, iPods—a streamlining of technology has meant that the phone is the primary device now. By way of outliers, we do have vinyl fetishists with record players; audiophiles; music nerds going deep on centralised forums like Reddit or Discord, using the Bandcamp/SoundCloud online catalogues, even buying CDs directly from young, independent bands. But mainstream habits revolve very much around streaming. In physical spaces, too, you may—at a restaurant or a bar—come across someone pointing their phone at the speaker playing music. They're 'Shazaming" a song so they can hear it again. Shazam, an app that processes a song being played and provides all details related to it, has been around forever. But it really caught fire over the past decade, and was acquired by Apple in 2018. Previously, you'd have to memorise the lyrics to look up later, or hope to hear the song again. It's a nice reminder, again, that technology can be such a valuable asset in the process of discovery. And just as often a hindrance. LIMITS OF THE ALGORITHM Which brings us to the elephant. The algorithm. Recently, I discovered something called Spotify Blend. Users can 'blend" your profile with that of a friend's, and Spotify will do its algorithm witchcraft to create a custom, shared playlist incorporating both people's musical preferences. It even offers a 'match score" to see if your music tastes align, a quick and foolproof way to tell if the relationship is going to last. You can add up to 10 friends in a Group Blend, each with their unique taste profile coming together to create one giant khichdi playlist for everyone to parse through. This is a modern retelling of community exchange; people have forever shared their music with friends in group settings. Except that we have an additional friend in the mix here: the algorithm. Streaming services offer a series of playlist options, from user playlists to 'algatorial" ones. The ones driven by the algorithm are of particular interest here. On Spotify, you get Time Capsules, Discover playlists, homepage recommendations, autoplay options—the algo never sleeps. Multiple AI and machine-learning processes work simultaneously to create this entity. Based on research, theories, and information available, the technology analyses songs via content filtering—looking at a song in isolation, studying its metadata and such—and collaborative filtering, where it's placed within a larger context. User behaviour, search history, lyrical themes, compositional structures—they're all factored in to craft personalised recommendations. I've even noticed the algorithm sometimes picking up the key in which a song is composed, and playing a series of songs that all start in that same key. Regardless of one's principled opposition to streaming, these features aid the process of discovery and make it so much easier. The algorithm is sharp, well-informed, intuitive, and will instantly gauge a listener's interest, guiding them to new places. But it raises a couple of semi-philosophical questions. For one, why should I allow the machine to tell me what to listen to? There's a volatility attached to discovery—repeat trial-and-errors driven by human emotions and external variance. Streaming, with its robotic efficiency, can flatten that unpredictability into a horizontal structure leaving little room for experiments. It knows what I like, and it'll keep feeding me. More importantly, what about the music that even I don't know I like? At a time when my music habits exclusively comprised alt-rocker misanthropes, I stumbled, on MTV, upon a song called Surfing on a Rocket by French electronica/dream pop duo Air. It led me down a circuitous path of cool electronic music I'd never have found otherwise. Algorithms—on Netflix, on social media, on music streaming—can create bubbles and echo chambers. They keep feeding you versions of things you already like and engage with. And they hide you from a world of discovery that you don't even realise exists. Those avenues for happy accidents, while very much still around, can get constricted by the self-limiting nature of algorithmic excellence. It's a complex subject, riddled with questions around access, ethics, tech manipulation, listener behaviour, maybe some moral panic—as such, all discussions around art and consumption do eventually circulate within these idealism labyrinths. And conversations around the algorithm deserve critical examination without being tainted by generational bias. But what remains steady is that new generations find novel ways to access and consume music; it can feel alienating—even existentially distressing—to those on the outside. Maybe we're losing some recipes. But the music landscape is forever fluid and evolving. And people within it will always find systems that work for them. Akhil Sood is a Delhi-based writer.
Black America Web
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
Jim Jones Is Cool With Ciara Pressing Him To Marry Longtime Girlfriend Chrissy, Social Media Disagrees
Remember back in the days when people could 'pull your coattails' to something in a kind and respectful way, and you took in the advice gracefully? Well, that's what happened in a surprisingly cordial exchange between Ciara and rapper/reality star Jim Jones at the BET Awards on Monday night. Cici jumped into a conversation Jones was having with The Breakfast Club in their media space at the awards, telling him he should stop playing and put a ring on it, in so many words. She was referring to his long-delayed engagement to girlfriend Chrissy Lampkin, which has played out over multiple VH1 reality shows, mostly Love & Hip Hop New York and its spinoff show, Chrissy and Mr. Jones. Per multiple reports, the longtime couple, who don't have children, have been together for 20 years. Chrissy just celebrated her 54th birthday last month. Jones will be 49 in July. Over the years, they've gotten engaged twice but never did the deed. Chrissy's contentious relationship with Jones's overbearing mother has been one of the reasons, as well as Jones's reluctance to marry. In 2019, Lumpkin appeared on Love & Hip Hop and said that tying the knot was no longer a big deal. Ciara's unsolicited take on the situation could have been met with hostility, but she does have a frame of reference. She and her husband, NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, are celebrating ten years together in July. They have three children together, and Ciara's oldest child, Future, is from a previous relationship with the rap star of the same name. 'Why not?' Ciara said as she sat down next to Jones. 'Like y'all have lived life in every capacity anyone could live it in. You're living like you've already done it, so let's just seal it properly because you know what? She deserves it. You deserve it. Why not? I look at y'all and I'm like, they're so, he is so fly, Chrissy is so beautiful and so dope and she holds you down, like down down down. This is the spirit talking through me right here.' Well, Ciara does have a point, given the length of time the two have been dating. And Jones acknowledged it when The Breakfast Club host Loren LaRosa asked him about it. 'It was a great piece of advice,' he said. 'Honestly, I needed that encouragement. I needed to hear that. Especially from somebody who's active in preaching what she's teaching. A lot of people have so many different opinions, and they're nowhere near marriage or any type of great relationship or in any position to give me any type of advice about what I should be doing.' See social media's reaction to Ciara's advice below. Jim Jones Is Cool With Ciara Pressing Him To Marry Longtime Girlfriend Chrissy, Social Media Disagrees was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
