The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: Robin Thicke and The Killers coming our way. Robin Thicke and Far East Movement are coming to town! The international acts are set to make a scene at MTV World Stage Live In Malaysia 2013 alongside local hip hop superstar Joe Flizzow at Sunway Resort City in Selangor on Sept 8. The hotly-tipped Thicke makes his debut Malaysian performance at the upcoming fifth edition of the outdoor MTV event. The 36-year-old Los Angeles-born singer has been heating up the charts worldwide with his recent hit single Blurred Lines, which was produced by Pharrell Williams. Far East Movement, which is renowned for its hit Like A G6 in 2010, has already played in Kuala Lumpur twice before. The American hip hop/electro pop group – J-Splif, Kev Nish, Prohgress and DJ Virman – returned to the headlines last year with its fourth album Dirty Bass, and has two new songs – Lovetron and The Illest to get the party going at MTV World Stage. Introduced in 2009 with acts like Hoobastank, Kasabian and The All-American Rejects, the concert series has been a popular draw on the Malaysian events calendar. As always, fans can win their MTV World Stage passes by playing a real-time and interactive multiplayer game on worldstage.mtvasia.com. The only difference is that fans can now access the game on both the computer and mobile device. Log on to worldstage.mtvasia.com or follow @mtvasia on Twitter for updates. The official hashtag is #worldstagemy. Elsewhere, American indie rock band The Killers will rock a headlining concert at the Helipad, Sepang International Circuit in Selangor on Sept 22. Led by frontman Brandon Flowers, the band is touring behind its fourth album, Battle Born, which was released last year. The concert here is presented by Future Sound Asia. Tickets cost RM238 and RM358. They are available at selected Rock Corner Outlets in the Klang Valley or online at www.boxtix.asia. For more information, visit www. facebook.com/officialfuturesoundasia. – Denielle Leong |
| Posted: Lady Gaga will be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards next month. From her powerful and bloody rendition of Paparazzi to the gender-bending, adrenaline-fuelled version of You And I, Lady Gaga is the mastermind behind some of the most memorable VMA performances in recent years. This year, she'll continue that legacy with a song taken from her highly-anticipated fourth album, Artpop, which will be released on Aug 19. As one of the most talked about and innovative artistes of this generation, Lady Gaga has left a mark on the MTV Video Music Awards by winning an astounding 13 Moonmen since 2009, including Best New Artiste, Video of the Year for Bad Romance and Best Video with a Message for Born This Way. Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead this year's VMAs with six overall nominations each. Timberlake's nominations include Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Pop Video and Best Editing for Mirrors, while his Suit & Tie featuring Jay-Z scored nods for Best Collaboration and Best Direction. Previously, Timberlake has taken home seven VMAs, including Best Pop Video for Cry Me A River. Meanwhile, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis score their first-ever VMA nominations with six nods including Video of the Year for their smash hit Thrift Shop, Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Cinematography, Best Direction and Best Editing for Can't Hold Us featuring Ray Dalton, while Same Love received a nod for Best Video with a Social Message. Bruno Mars continues his hugely successful year by garnering four nominations including Video of the Year, Best Pop Video and Best Male Video for Locked Out Of Heaven and Best Choreography for the smooth summer groove, Treasure. |
| Posted: Beyonce as marketer, social force, wife and mum. The astounding reach of Beyonce's cultural impact is illustrated by a Saturday Night Live bit where first lady wanna-be Ann Romney (played by Kate McKinnon), blurts that she'd kill her equestrian-competition horse to meet Beyonce. "I wouldn't have pictured you as a Beyonce fan," says Weekend Update host Seth Myers. "Everyone is a Beyonce fan, Seth," retorts an adamant Romney. Like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Madonna before her, Beyonce is more than the sum of her songs (or her 17 Grammys). A true global icon, she represents many different things to a broad swath of people, particularly women. "She comes across as a woman who's living her life on her own terms and realising her full potential," says Cathy McClelland, who's in charge of her own entrepreneurial training and business development service in Southfield, Michigan. At age 31, Beyonce has become a prism for society's defining discussions. When she's not rocking the Super Bowl or shopping at Target (she was spotted at a Houston location last week), she remains a figure in commercialism, politics, privacy issues and female empowerment. Here's a closer look. Beyonce the marketer Beyond being one the most successful recording artistes of the new millennium, Beyonce has demonstrated enormous clout as a pitchwoman for American Express, L'Oreal and Pepsi, among others. Celebrities with such wide appeal are rare and sought after by all sorts of corporations. "You become the go-to person for everything from aspirins to zebras," according to Michael Bernacchi, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor. When she drew criticism recently from health advocates for supporting Michelle Obama's fitness campaign while signing a US$50mil (RM158mil) deal with soft drink maker Pepsi, she didn't flinch. "Pepsi is a brand I've grown up seeing my heroes collaborate with," she said. "The company respects musicians and artistry. I wouldn't encourage any person, especially a child, to live life without balance." Besides pushing products for others, Beyonce has launched her own perfume lines and fashion label. She is the perfect entrepreneurial role model, says McClelland, who has launched the Propel Project, an initiative to help women entrepreneurs that's a spin-off of the 2012 Urban Rebound Detroit Pitch Competition. "We tell all entrepreneurs, look for every single opportunity, and she does that." Beyonce the social force When she made Time's 100 Most Influential People list, The Great Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann wrote: "Right now, she is the heir-apparent diva of the USA – the reigning national voice." The singer-songwriter, a friend and supporter of President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, has played a public role at both of Obama's inaugurations. And when Beyonce and her husband, Jay Z, traveled to Cuba this year, there was a brouhaha among some congressional figures about their trip to a country that's under embargo for ordinary visits by Americans. But the entertainer doesn't let academics or politicians define her. She speaks loudest through her philanthropy, which includes helping survivors of disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake and being an ambassador for 2012's World Humanitarian Day. And when she does raise her voice, it's newsworthy. Recently, she called for a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin at her Nashville concert, which started not long after word spread of George Zimmerman's acquittal in the death of the teen. Beyonce the image controller
As someone who lives under the microscope of celebrity, Beyonce is adamant about being in control of her image. Earlier this year, she debuted the HBO documentary about her life, Beyonce: Life Is But A Dream, a candid portrait of herself on and off the stage, but one that she codirected and was able to scrutinise before it aired. A recent GQ story described in detail the archive that Beyonce has created, "a temperature-controlled digital-storage facility that contains virtually every existing photograph of her, starting with the very first frames taken of Destiny's Child, the '90s girl group she once fronted; every interview she has ever done; every video of every show she has ever performed; every diary entry she has ever recorded while looking into the unblinking eye of her laptop." It's a remarkable effort from someone determined to be the architect of her professional roles and handle the necessary promotion and public appearances on her own terms. "I always have gotten the impression that she determines the outcome. It's different from somebody who's told what do to and follows the template. She's made the mold of her template," says Bernacchi. Beyonce the female empowerment figure In an interview with UK Vogue, Beyonce said she considers herself "a modern-day feminist," a description other female pop idols have declined. "Beyonce is part of the 'I'll do it my way' innovators generation. They are so different. They're not afraid of the word 'feminist,'" says Anne Doyle, leadership strategist and author of Powering Up! How America's Women Achievers Become Leaders. Doyle sees Beyonce as epitomising the comfort level and confidence of the generation of young women just hitting 30 and younger. "She's really on the leading edge." Beyonce created her Sasha Fierce character as an alter ego of assertiveness and put together her all-female band, the Sugar Mamas, who are another symbol of the girl power of her lyrics. In June, Beyonce performed in London at a concert for Chime For Change, a campaign set up to help empower girls and women around the world. "To me, she is all about an empowered woman, and not just about her. She's very willing to use her power to lift girls and women," says Doyle. – Detroit Free Press/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
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