The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2011 02:51 AM PDT The media may report on stars' chatter on Twitter though one wonders if what they say is worth following. NINE of the 10 most popular people on Twitter are celebrities. The odd one out is US President Barack Obama, but one can easily make the case that he is also a celebrity of the first order, albeit of the political sort. At last count, Lady Gaga leads the field, just crossing 11 million followers. Hot on her heels is teen wonder Justin Bieber, with 10.5 million. Singer Britney Spears, reality star Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Ashton Kutcher, Ellen Degeneres, Taylor Swift and Shakira round up the rest of the top 10, as measured by Twitter directory listorious.com The media have happily welcomed celebrity tweets as an additional source of entertainment news, but that's to be expected as reporting what's said on Twitter is sometimes a news hack's dream source – it's timely, easy to access and comes straight from the horse's mouth, at least for the majority of tweets. Charlie Sheen tweeted about his live shows, and they were almost sold out within minutes. Lady Gaga, through her tweeting, was able to sell in a matter of days US$250,000 (RM750,000) worth of a bracelet she had designed that went towards helping victims of the recent Japan tsunami. But not all tweets are newsworthy. Some celebrities tweet about brushing their teeth and going to bed – y-a-w-n. To see what it's like for myself, I became a follower of all of the top 10 Twitter idols for a week recently and here are some of the highlights and not-so-highlights from that experience. Lady Gaga was a busy one as the week was near the launch of her latest album Born This Way. She was in London for a promotional tour and was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live with Justin Timberlake. She also garnered more than 10 million followers, or her Little Monsters as she likes to call her fans, on Twitter. Of course, Mother Monster did not neglect to make a plug for her new album every chance she had. Rejoice with Bieber as he tweeted from the Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan legs of his world tour and pity the teenage wonder for soldiering on with his performances despite suffering from a chest infection almost throughout the week. He showed his charitable side by pledging to donate part of the proceeds from his concert in Osaka to a fund for Japan's tsunami victims but with his Never Say Never documentary-concert DVD coming out during the week in question, he naturally didn't lose any opportunity to encourage his fans to buy one. Even Britney Spears got a copy of the Bieber DVD, as she revealed in a tweet. From her updates, we also know that she went for a photo shoot by Harper's Bazaar in Malibu and was hard at work rehearsing her dance sequences for her upcoming Femme Fatale tour to promote her latest studio album released in March. She is also giving out tickets to a lucky fan who managed to guess correctly her playlist while on tour. True to her business-minded ways, Kardashian was in Miami, Florida, scouting a new location for yet another branch of the Kardashian line of clothing. She also took the opportunity to helm a meet-and-greet at Macy's with the first 300 people who bought her perfume package. On a more personal note, she found it hard to get back into the exercise groove after a break and watched a Jennifer Aniston movie as well as the finale of Desperate Housewives. One would not find anything personal on Obama's tweets, often just announcements of his speeches, much in keeping with his dignity as the leader of the most influential nation on Earth. But one can hope. Perry was in New Zealand and Australia as part of her California Dreams Tour, and was headed for Japan. She gave the impression of being chatty and breezy in her regular replies to tweets from her fans. The new star of the hit sitcom Two And A Half Men, Kutcher shared a picture of himself with his two co-stars Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones. While he tweeted in promotion of his fan club and merchandise, he also presented a more serious side in a show of concern about the situation in the Middle East. Probably too busy to tweet much, country singer Swift still found time to share with fans the preparation work for her Speak Now Help Now benefit concert in aid of victims of the recent tornadoes in the US South. She also revealed that she was being interviewed for a 60 Minutes special to be broadcast next season. Degeneres used Twitter heavily, but mostly as an outlet for her jokes and funny pictures and videos that both showcased the comedian in her and served as great advertisement for The Ellen Show that she hosts. Colombian bombshell Shakira was on tour in Romania, Poland, Germany and Belarus, so her tweets during the week were links to videos and pictures of her in those countries. Twitter, as anyone would have realised, is yet another channel for stars to promote their work and themselves. The difference is that this social media platform makes one feel close to the celebrities, who are only one tweet away, sometimes several times a day. There is much to be said for the immediacy and intimacy that come from getting the latest update straight from our idols' smartphones to our own. What they say is hardly earth-shattering stuff, but can be addictive, especially if one is a fan, as I found to my surprise during the one week I was a devoted online groupie. In an earlier column last year, I focused on several finger-happy celebrities who found themselves in hot water over shoot-from-the-hip, thoughtless comments that were tweeted at speed before their good sense could rein them in, but upon reflection, even this ought to be attractive to fans as such controversies are a good sign that we are seeing the stars, warts and all. Whether following stars on Twitter will end up being a short-lived fad with users just too lazy to un-follow them or become a genuine long-term interactive medium for communication with fans will depend on how celebrities harness its power – they will have to offer more than just press releases and advertising soft-sell and reveal a lot more of themselves, with their own fingers, to keep our interest alive. In this column, writer Hau Boon Lai ponders the lives, loves and liberties of celebrities. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2011 02:48 AM PDT Japanese hardcore act Envy is no less devastating live despite adopting a more expansive, atmospheric sound. JAPANESE hardcore band Envy must be far less angry these days, if its new album is any indication. Recitation, the group's latest opus, sees the band enter "gentler" waters with most songs sounding not unlike the kind of orchestral post-rock that country-mates Mono peddle. Formed in 1992, Envy was one of the earliest bands to dabble with the post-hardcore sound that seems to be all-the-rage these days amongst extreme music fans. It built a solid following in Tokyo before gradually expanding the fan base globally. Envy were then known for two things – high octane live shows and the knack of mixing melody with aggression. In 2006, the album Insomniac Doze saw Envy adding uplifting and melodic progressions into what was already a complex sonic canon. Vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa's trademark gnarly delivery held the explosive combination together. But on Recitation, the band's melodic muscle and Fukagawa's discordant edge reached boiling point, creating a contrasting visual impression akin to a rabid werewolf bursting into the set of a romantic Japanese period drama. While the band has been inching towards this direction, the creative jump – with anger, sadness and strength as core themes – is a significant one. In Envy's case, brute aggression has been replaced by a certain Zen calmness, a description that fans would find puzzling. Is their favourite band going New Age on them? Not exactly. Frontman Fukagawa sat with us before the group's recent tour stop at Pentas 2, KLPac, in Kuala Lumpur on June 17 to give the lowdown on the new record. "We are changing our course as a band, that's true. It was crucial that we approach these songs with less aggression because we needed to. I think we just wanted to match the right feel and dynamics with the right songs," said Fukagawa. "In turn, we've broadened our songwriting scope as well." Yet, Fukagawa explains that it has always been the band's policy to evolve. This creative direction may well be temporary. "It's boring to be making the same album every time. The goal is to continue to move forward into 'unknown' territories for us," he shared. In a rather frank tone, he concedes that there must be some sense of continuity as well. "At the same time, we don't want to sound incredibly different every time. The purpose of Envy is to grow musically but retain the essence of what makes the band. I think we made quite a leap with A Dead Sinking Story (2003)." Envy's music pedigree has never been questioned despite the creative shifts over the years. It has a global presence with the Mogwai-owned label Rock Action Records putting out Envy albums in Europe while Temporary Residence Limited (home to Explosions in the Sky) is the band's home in the United States. Fukagawa himself contributed spoken word to the Mogwai track I Chose Horses (off the Scottish band's Mr Beast in 2006), which might have signalled a new atmospheric direction. Or was the sudden interest in tuning down driven by the band's natural evolution? "Mogwai are really easy-going guys and nice to work with while Explosions is a band I respect because it is a fantastic band and have influenced our sound," shared Fukagawa, before adding: "But the change in sound did not have anything to do with us signing with these labels." Outside Envy duties, will Fukagawa be lending his unique talents to more interesting collaborations? "I would certainly jump at the chance to work with them (Mogwai) again but I'm also more interested in doing different things. I've received invitations from some other bands but it's hard to really explore that too much because Envy pretty much takes up most of our time." Like most people in their homeland, the band – also consisting Nobukata Kawai (guitars), Masahiro Tobita (guitars), Manabu Nakagawa (bass) and Dairoku Seki (drums) – is naturally greatly affected by the effects of the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March. Recitation may have been released nearly five months before the tragedy (which was on March 11), but with song titles like Last Hours Of Eternity and Worn Heels And The Hands We Hold, you could be forgiven for thinking that the band may be clairvoyants who foresaw the future. As resigned as some of the Envy song titles may be, Fukagawa explained that the focus of the band at this time, much like the rest of the country, is to rebuild what was lost. "This kind of tragedy is pretty hard to forget. A lot of time would be needed for us to heal from this," he said, before continuing positively: "I would be lying if I said I was not worried everyday, but I guess we are inching closer and closer towards restoration. As a band, we've decided to support the situation through the only way we know how, through our songs and making them heard all around the world. We as a people are grateful for the support from all over the world." The band's intriguing new sound during the recent promo stop at KLPac was well received. Organised by Soundscape Records, this was the band's second visit (the first was in 2009) and the masses were equally supportive with 400 fans at the Pentas 2 venue. The band furiously powered through a two-hour set that featured old and new tracks. Older tracks such as A Warm Room sat beautifully alongside newer tracks such as Light And Solitude as the band pushed out its epic and atmospheric side, delivering a set that was both achingly beautiful and furiously volatile at the same time. The scruffy-looking Fukagawa was ever the consummate ringmaster of the show, playing both Jekyll and Hyde as he shifted with ease between spoken-word during the quieter passages to almost cathartic screams when the band rocked out. "We were really happy with the enthusiastic responses from the fans – both times (Envy played in KL in 2009). Our music is universal despite the language differences," said a smiling Fukagawa, who left local music fans with another blinding live experience to take home. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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