…about Olivia Rodrigo, Keke Palmer and Usher, Girl Ray, “Ladies First”, the women’s quota at the VMAs, Armani White and KI-Radio
Last week I rang in the fall with series tips, I’m now hanging my towel to the wind again and giving you the most bubbly inputs for your hot climate change summer…
Song of the week: Olivia Rodrigo – “bad idea right?”
A couple of times I recently read that there was no real summer hit this year and maybe this spell has now been broken. After the ballad “vampire”, Rodrigo shows her other side with the second single from her upcoming album: also heartbroken, but self-ironic and on the ball. The pop-rock number “bad idea right?” is about the good old question, which isn’t actually a question at all: should you still go to your ex-boyfriend at night after a party? Of course it was decided a long time ago, the lyrical I does it. In the video, Rodrigo, coming from a party with a late 90s aesthetic, fights against all sorts of resistance (signs to damn it!) and then actually ends up with HIM. Once again you can completely identify with the situation from top to bottom.
Video of the week: Usher – “Boyfriend”
Now it’s getting halfway complicated again, it’s about one of those iconic online celebrity stories. Keke Palmer recently had a baby, shortly after which she went to an Usher concert, so to speak, scantily clad, and her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, who is the father of Palmer’s child, publicly lectured her online about the inappropriateness of being a MOM dress this way. Now for revenge par excellence, Palmer stars in Usher’s new video for the single “Boyfriend,” and it’s full of very funny references to the incident. You can obviously learn a lot from this mother.
Album of the week: Girl Ray – “Prestige”
The summer album (before Rodrigo delivers) 2023 is here! The previously laid-back London band Girl Ray surprise with a rather funky disco album, and it’s exactly that escapism that one can use again and again. Especially if you have long since overheard “Padam, Padam”, “Renaissance” or Daft Punk and the like and want to visit a new disco again, this time in the realms of indies.
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Documentary Series of the Week: “Ladies First – A History of Women in Hip-Hop” (Netflix)
They agreed on a founding myth, so 50 years of hip-hop is being celebrated everywhere. One can guess that the women are quite invisible again and were deliberately made invisible in the past – how much, but it is really frightening. However, with the Netflix documentary “Ladies First” you can close some gaps in your knowledge and learn interesting things about Roxanne Shanté, Sha-Rock, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Foxy Brown and Missy Elliott through to Nicki Minaj and Cardi B only dutifully listed all possible women (some of whom also have their say), but also made their differences visible. Because of course not everyone is the same, and even among “the women of hip-hop” there are nuances, characters, different origins and so on. This is how the discourse about (self-)sexualization finds its place, as well as queerness or different forms of expression.
Achievement of the week: Women own the VMAs
You might say who cares about the VMAs anymore, but this could be a good indication that something has changed in the music industry (or even society). While snored festival heis still cling to their bratwurst men, the reality of normal people seems to have been different for a long time and female artists own the music game. And so it is that this year, for the first time ever, only women are nominated for “Artist of the Year” (my fingers are crossed for Doja).
Live Moment of the Week: Armani White feat. Billie Eilish
Do you know the song “Billie Eilish” by Armani White? “Glock tucked, big t-shirt, Billie Eilish”! Does it ring? Definitely, because it’s a big hit. Now it came about that HE was finally allowed to perform it for HER. And it’s sooo cute. Both are totally touched, happy and embarrassed. As Eilish announces at the end of the performance, it’s also the first time they’ve ever met.
Tech of the week: Radio “Big gpt”
For every 10 posts in which an expert explains how dangerous AI is, there is another new product that turns out to be pretty trash. What can I say, it’s the same with Big gpt. Even if it’s a little funny – for about three minutes. It’s a radio station put together by an AI. The host is called bigLayla. In the “photo” on the page, she looks like a future girl on a wallpaper from 2002. And that’s how she talks too. For example, she says, “Check that, check the lines I’m dropping. I actually dropped it myself. I’m an AI girl, yeah, Simon.” In another sentence she then calls Simon Saimon. She often responds to something some Simon asked her online. And then she brings the gag with the doner kebab and the laughter several times as an introduction or introduction… In the morning, for example, she asked me: “What do a doner kebab and a smile have in common? Both are always included”. In the evening she then stated for herself: “Laughter is like a doner kebab. Both are always possible.” Otherwise there is a lot of “heating up”, there is constant talk about Gamescom and the “favorite track” becomes the “favorite truck”. Have a listen if you have to: https://www.bigfm.de/webradio/biggpt
There is another AI radio, it’s called Radio Heligoland, where a Katja has to moderate the show “Nachtschther” from 10 p.m. to midnight and then again until 6 a.m. Before that, “Anne” hosted the show “Norden ist up” and Anne is literally a child.
Yes, AI will definitely replace us all. Maybe 10-year-old Anne will write at this point next time.