#BrutalMasks created by iPad are a setup for singer’s AI reality in newest music video
The young and top chart-leading pop star of 2021, Olivia Rodrigo, has debuted her album SOUR. Her first song “brutal” on the album, first released back in May was met with 26.7 million streams its first week.
This week, the artist released her new music video for the song and, incredibly, it was produced exclusively on an Apple iPad. Incredible because of the way it turned out, showing how Apple is aggressively positioning itself, particularly with the iPad Pro, iPadOS 15 and the upcoming iPhone 13 as a full professional production option that will only get better with each software / hardware iteration.
Promotions leading up to her video had fans create their own #BrutalMasks to share on TikTok.
The 30 second video breaks down how some of the custom masks that are featured throughout the video were made with the FacePaint feature on the Procreate app using the Apple pencil.
https://youtu.be/Z6_J8KxIlmI
This isn’t the first time Apple has partnered with musical celebrities, other stars that have worked alongside the company include Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, and Billie Eilish. With the new direction in marketing and even designing updates to lean more and more towards a pro orientation, expect more major artists, as well as new upcoming ones that can benefit most from the lower cost of top flight production values to get a bump this fall. And the proliferation of creative visual and musical expression will hopefully follow…
Taylor Swift is serving fans holiday gifts left and right. First, Swift announces a surprise album, “Evermore”, the second one this year and drops it within mere hours and just two days shy of her 31st birthday. This upcoming album will be Taylor’s 9th album and regarded by singer as “folklore’s sister”. Followed up with the music video for her first song off the track, “Willow” simultaneously with release.
It’s already obvious Taylor Swift is mega pop star that has garnered multiple Grammy, Billboard, MTV awards and more. Yet, Taylor being such an animal lover and proclaimed cat lady should also be equally recognized.
December 2020 will be newsworthy for the artist and her holiday card this year puts a proverbial cherry on top. A journalist revealed Taylor’s card and yes it includes the artist’s trio of adorable cats, inspired and named from TV and movie characters: Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey and Benjamin Button.
As if we need a reason to explain why our pets are held in such high regard, sometimes, more so than our fellow humans. Especially during the nearly year long pandemic filled with social isolation, our pet(s) appreciate everything we do for them, provide emotional support (even if they don’t know it) and ultimately provide unconditional love. It’s clear why Taylor so proudly put them on display.
Sleuthing Swifties discover surprise Easter egg on social media
Taylor Swift delighted fans everywhere with a seemingly out of the blue announcement of her latest project. The concert film will be available exclusively on Disney+ streaming platform.
Taylor took to her social media to send a cryptic message, her notorious easter egg “Not a lot going on at the moment”. Fans quickly figured out that the artist used the same caption when she was working on the album ‘Folklore’ and knew that big news was brewing.
The news comes after even more good news for the 10-time Grammy Award winner; at the 2020 American Music Awards, Taylor took home three awards: Artist of the Year, Favorite Music Video of the Year (for her No. 1 song “Cardigan) and Favorite Female Artist in Pop/Rock category.
The film was shot in September 2020 at the upstate New York studio, ‘The Long Pond’ alongside Swift’s co-producers Aaron Dessner (The National) and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers). Justin Vernon of Bon Iver made a guest appearance purportedly to perform in a duet for the song “Exile” (her upcoming single).
“There’s something about the complete and total uncertainty of life. If we’re going to have to recalibrate everything, we should start with what we love the most first,” Swift says. “It’s an album that allows you to feel your feelings and it’s a product of isolation.”
The three musicians secretly filmed the performances using a robotic camera in order to adhere to covid-19 guidelines.
The intimate “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at midnight.
Trump’s attempt to enlist entertainers for taxpayer funded propaganda program fails spectacularly
Lately, the Trump Administration has been looking for a celebrity to be the face of its new COVID-19 PSA campaign. Well, kind of. While the $265 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign is supposed to raise coronavirus awareness, the White House has unsubtly been twisting it into an explicit Trump promotion.
According to U.S. Heath and Human Services Secretary Michael Caputo, the theoretically non-partisan campaign’s message is “Helping The President Will Help The Country.” Interestingly, this whole fiasco arrives just days before the 2020 Presidential Election, where Trump is behind in the polls.
Regardless of the hidden meaning behind the campaign—or perhaps directly because of it—the Administration has had trouble finding a suitable face for the ads. According to documents that Democratic lawmakers revealed to the Washington Post, the Administration went down a list of 247 celebs considered for the PSAs, but hardly any of them fit the bill.
Notes from the documents suggest a strict pro-Republican criteria for the job. Behavior that disqualified celebrities included if they had ever been critical of Trump, if they ever expressed support for Barak Obama, and if they ever supported gay marriage or LBGTQ+ rights. Unsurprisingly, these stipulations left options rather thin.
Names on the list included comedians Judd Apatow and George Lopez (both disqualified for expressing anti-Trump sentiments); singers Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Justin Timberlake (all ruled out for endorsing Obama and championing gay rights); actress Jennifer Lopez (eliminated for her so-called radical Super Bowl halftime show); and actors Johnny Depp and Jack Black (both excluded for simply aligning with the American left).
The name on the list that met the most scathing response was probably singer/songwriter Billie Eilish. Notes on the eighteen-year old celebrity recount that she “Made a political statement on gun control in 2019; will be a first time voter in 2020; not a Trump supporter, stated he ‘is destroying our country and everything we care about.'”
Of the 247 names initially listed, only ten survived the President’s elimination process— Dennis Quaid, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks, Dwyane Wade, Dr. Mehmet Oz, CeCe Winans, and Shulem Lemmer.
There are also a number of celebrities listed as “pending” or “declined.” Among the latter are Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez, and Sandra Oh.
Trump Train about to Derail or will Celebs like Lil Wayne & Kanye come to the Rescue
These slim pickings show that Trump does not garner the strongest support (or any) from American entertainers. In addition to all of the listed names considered and rejected for this campaign, there are many more celebrities who have publically denounced the POTUS, several of whom were formerly apolitical or even republicans (Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger) before the current term.
Not all celebrities are steadfastly anti-Trump, though. The President has actually found support in some unlikely places. Because of Trump’s recent Platinum Plan to assist black Americans, he has created seemingly positive relations with rappers such as Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, 50 Cent, and Lil Pump. It’s unclear if any of these recognizable names actually endorse Trump, but they’ve all shown degrees of support via social media.
Trump doesn’t have all rappers on board, though. Kanye West retracted his longstanding support for the President when he decided to run for the office himself this year. Meanwhile, when rapper Lil John was solicited to support Trump on Twitter, he responded bluntly:
Evidently, while there are some exceptions, few recognizable entertainers fully support the President. Ironically, Donald Trump himself has a strong background in entertainment— perhaps boasting the most show business-savvy resume of any President since Reagan.
However, while Reagan was an accomplished actor and later President of the Screen Actor’s Guild, Trump was more of a crude businessman slapped before the camera for a reality TV paycheck.
Entertainers carry a lot of influence. Unfortunately, Trump has struggled to win the hearts of such influencers. In fact, many of them are now using that very influence against him.
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Springsteen’s Introspective Brilliance Rocks onto the Big Screen in Lieu of a Concert Tour
Rock-n-roll legend Bruce Springsteen has appeared in films before. From dancing with Courtney Cox in his own music video, to chiming in on different rockumentaries, to making a hilarious cameo in “High Fidelity,” the Boss is no stranger to the screen. This is not even to mention the nearly three hundred movie soundtracks that he has appeared on—winning an Oscar for his original song “Streets of Philadelphia” in 1993 and more recently having a film made directly about his music in 2019’s “Blinded By The Light.”
On October 25th, Springsteen invites his audience to enjoy a new kind of filmic experience to compliment his music. Springsteen’s latest album, “Western Stars,” came out in May, and like all of the rocker’s work, it is ruggedly poetic and grippingly suggestive of something that feels fundamentally American. Instead of going on a tour to promote this album, though, Springsteen is releasing a film to accompany it.
A Documentary-Music Video that Expands Upon Bruce Springsteen’s Latest Album
“Western Stars” (the film) is a cinematic endeavor that combines many different kinds of footage and stories, all set to the music from Springsteen’s latest record. It is partially an elongated music video that goes on for the album’s entire twelve tracks. At the same time, it is also a documentary, using found-footage and voice over narration to create a commentary about Springsteen’s life and career. Then again, it is also a concert video, as it incorporates live performances from several Bruce shows.
A conglomeration of mediums and modes, “Western Stars” is a unique project. Given its motley style, the film is very hard to pin as a particular art form. It is just as musical as it is cinematic—a visual album with Springsteen as the glue holding everything together.
A Nostalgic Directorial Collaboration Rooted in Springsteen’s Earliest Years
Springsteen himself directed the movie alongside longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. In addition to Springsteen’s brilliant lyric-writing abilities, the singer also published a memoir in 2016 and curated his own Broadway performance in 2017. Both of these projects were highly esteemed, demonstrating that he knows how to communicate a story or message in more than just a musical medium.
Zimny, on the other hand, is a filmmaker first and foremost. He has been with Bruce since 2001, when he directed the concert video, “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live In New York City.” Since then they have worked together on numerous documentaries and music videos. “Western Stars” however, is a first for both of them—an unprecedented blend of all the cinematic forms they’ve worked in so far.
“Western Stars” debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year, and it received positive reviews. It is praised for the way it captures and expands upon everything Springsteen says on the album. Although the musician hails from New Jersey, the film has an appropriately Western energy, with desert-country imagery that compliments the songs’ themes regarding growing up, growing old, and navigating your inner-American frontier through solemn ballads and explosive hard rock.
