By the time Justin Bieber took the stage Saturday night at the first weekend of Coachella, the festival was already running on Bieber energy. His set delivered exactly what the music festival thrives on: nostalgia, spectacle and a crowd fully aware they were watching a cultural reset in real time. Beyond Justin Bieber’s music career, …
Step 1: Think about your favorite part of Laufey’s music. This could be a specific song, the jazziness, the classical techniques, etc. Why does that stand out to you, and how does it make you feel? Past winners of the contest have emulated their personal relationship to Laufey’s music, resulting in outfits of varying styles …
Today’s Coachella is a bona fide “influencer Olympics,” where TikTokers, vloggers and even goldendoodles with VIP wristbands compete to produce the flashiest sponsored content and secure the biggest poolside mansions. However, it was not always this way, and the consumerist glitz of today’s festival is antithetical to its late ’90s countercultural origins. Coachella began as …
Today’s punks extend the mid-1970s “big bang” of punk into 21st-century discontent. Today, wealth stratification has entrenched caste-like socioeconomic disparities; meanwhile, surveillance capitalists track dissent, box it up and sell it back as clickbait content. Across Europe and the United States, ethno-nationalist movements gain traction by viciously “othering” minorities and political opponents.
Ultimately, the rules of performance and live entertainment are being rewritten. As popular culture becomes more knitted into the new media ecosystem, seemingly timeless genres like Broadway must adapt accordingly before they become obsolete. The priority should be engaging younger theatergoers while giving actors of all backgrounds — including celebrities — the freedom to experiment within a form that demands elevated artistry and offering digital natives a meaningful, in-person creative community.
These artists, while heading in different directions, started in the same place and are all reaching for stardom.
A perfect example of a building with a legacy is Smalls, a cramped, underground, basement-like club in New York City. Despite its age, Smalls’s soul permeates the room, producing a tangible feeling that washes over you the moment you walk through the door. The brownstone is decorated with autographed photos from the “Queen of Jazz,” …
I felt most at home listening to Latin music, and Spanish was the first language I learned to speak. As a kid, I heard it everywhere — in living rooms, quinceañeras and corner cafés in my parents’ native country of Colombia. My mom sang boleros and old romantic ballads as she made breakfast, and my …
Big names, including longtime favorite John Summit and recent breakthrough sensation Disco Lines, entertained thousands of fans at a neon-lit, rain-splattered racetrack at Breakaway Music Festival on Sept. 26 and 27. This leg of the popular EDM festival was held in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and delivered two high-energy nights for thousands …