I’m becoming more like TikTok now: Paula’s pop week at a glance

taketonews

Spotify is now supposed to be more like TikTok, or has it already become – like most of the new features, you just don’t get it (where is the DJ function that we were “promised”?). But won’t everything be more like TikTok anyway? Apps, social media, news, human relationships, exciting experiences, emotions? Don’t we just swipe from moment to moment without … Read it in my essay of 20,000 characters at some point. Now I have to see what’s been left over the last two weeks. Fast forward, swoosh swoosh.

Cringe (and redress) of the week: Herbert Grönemeyer

A long time ago it was women’s day or feminist day of struggle, depending on whether you want to keep it more political or floral. In the course of this, Grönemeyer was probably asked by the radio whether he could contribute something, just SOMETHING. And the result was “HERBERT GRÖNEMEYER GREETING ON WOMAN’S DAY”. Then he really did the worst thing imaginable and messed up his great feminist song “Men” for it. For this he changed very good lines into very bad ones (“Women work like stupid / Women love men’s telephones”), you can see the whole accident read here and, goodness, listen.

But according to the daily form, one is sometimes happy about the smallest things, namely when the most prominent voices in this country at least do not stand in the way of urgent concerns. Gröni recently made positive comments on the subject of gender, i.e. gender where you try to address everyone. On the new record DAS IST LOS he positions himself so fully pro climate (“Oh Oh Oh”), really young at heart (like most guys of his kind maybe thanks to much younger women). You don’t have to celebrate this typical men’s bare minimum, but you can tick it off, so to speak. Next, swoosh.

Cute of the week: Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny is either totally callous or super shy, which is often hard to tell apart. Accordingly, the mood at the Carpool Karaoke with James Corden was only mediocre, even though it was of course cool as always and the two car occupants enjoyed the songs. But then Corden put in Ariana Grande’s “Break Free” and the situation escalated. Bad Bunny cutely freaked out over the hit while trying to explain his relationship to English-language songs. But then you could guess what he wanted to say.

Excitement from a few weeks ago: Mann vs. Meg White

It’s actually old hat, but in all jubilee it needs a rehash, like misogynistic jokes. Distinction dudes have to make it clear from time to time that certain women don’t deserve their places, like Meg White her place in the band The White Stripes. Of course it’s pure envy, because despite the fact that a lot of mediocre male musicians make it onto the stages of the world, not all of them can make it. And then, of course, you have to work your way through one of the few women who played drums prominently in the noughties. Despite or precisely because of the fact that this woman in particular no longer wants to know anything about these heinis and the public in general. One of them won’t fight back: a bold move by a guy who was called Lachlan Markay this time, is actually a political journalist and had to open the topic on Twitter in 2023.

He tweeted: “The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would’ve been with a half decent drummer. Yeah yeah I’ve heard all the ‘but it’s a carefully crafted sound mannnn!’ takes. I’m sorry Meg White was terrible and no band is better for having sh*tty percussion.” A good shitstorm then broke out, Questlove commented, Jack White commented, but one reaction went down a bit, and she was the hottest . Jack White’s ex-wife Karen Elson, the one he was married to after Meg, wrote the following, alluding to Will Smith’s Oscar freak:

The guy has since apologized and closed his profile, but the internet has forgotten anyway. What remains is the knowledge that Meg White has a powerful gang. Cool.

Stable Guy of the Week: Robert Smith

At this point I’ve often complained about the bottomless exploitation of Fantum, for example with regard to dynamic pricing when buying concert tickets. And while many stars claim there is nothing they can do about the now incredibly high ticket prices and the system behind them, Robert Smith proves them wrong. You can also express yourself, criticize Ticketmaster, create public pressure and bring about changes. He’s been rattling on Twitter for weeks and fighting like a lion for fair ticket prices for his fans.

Neil Young, on the other hand, seems to have given up. He writes on his website:

But: There is momentum in the counter-movement. If even the artists fight back now, hopefully Ticketmaster will fall soon.

Show of the week: “Swarm”

The horror, drama and satire series “Swarm” (German: “Bee swarm”), which can be seen on Prime, is also about fandom. Young woman Dre (Dominique Fishback) is obsessed with singer Ni’Jah, who is very clearly based on Beyoncé. The topic of overpriced tickets also comes up; Right at the beginning, Dre doesn’t give a damn about her rent so she can go to her idol’s concert with her sister. It sounds familiar, even recently, fans around the world were bragging about how badly they were doing economically now because they had spent several hundred dollars, euros, etc. on Beyoncé. Who sacrifices the most for their star, whose love is the greatest? Definitely no one is as serious as Dre. She even murders Ni’Jah’s haters, so the show is very bloodthirsty. There are also countless pop culture references and Easter eggs; A large fan base with the wildest theories has long since formed around “Swarm”. Second-degree obsession, so to speak. Last but not least, Chloe Bailey and Billie Eilish shine in the most exciting supporting roles. It’s good to get rid of if you like pop and don’t have a problem with something disturbing happening all the time.

Cover songs of the week: by the AI

Recently Emma Watson read from “Mein Kampf”. Of course not, it was a fake. Some right-wing trolls had Watson’s voice imitated by means of “voice cloning” and posted the nonsense on the Internet. It’s likely that voice AIs will soon be used for film dubbing and audiobooks, and will change the podcast game again, probably all in an uncomfortable way. A beautiful, playful, creative and impressive use for me, however, are cover songs made by AIs. I can only recommend this rabbit hole on YouTube. Here are a few of my favourites; some are not so good yet, others are creepy:

“Ariana Grande” covers SZA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKCcLkKiDTQ

Lady Gaga covers Lana Del Rey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSj8jcuhGqU

“Michael Jackson” as The Weeknd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxBeDfu9T6g

“Britney” is Justin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KxkFbC95i4

And finally my favorite – Drake becomes “Kanye”:

Campaign of the week: RAP4AZADI

The system-critical Iranian rappers Toomaj Salehi, Saman Yasin and Behrad Alikenari are in prison, are being tortured and are about to be executed. While the revolution in Iran is disappearing more and more from the German public, rappers oppose it and show solidarity with those who can no longer speak publicly. Among others, Xatar, Kool Savas, Peter Fox, Celo & Abdi and Justina will be there.

What happened until now? Here is an overview of all pop column texts.

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