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(08/11/20 4:00am)
Ever since Taylor Swift released her first album in 2006, she has claimed her songs are nothing more than tools to tell her stories. However, for years other narratives have pushed conversations about her songwriting to the background: the exes, the genre changes, her reputation. Unmarred by these distractions, “Folklore” is free to explore a vast array of settings and characters like a sonical storybook, earning itself the distinction of being Swift’s best album yet.
(04/01/20 4:00am)
My eyes are blurry, and I can’t really tell where my phone screen ends and the darkness begins. The glow from the bed below me has stopped — my brother must have gone to bed. From my perch up on the top bunk, I glance over at the radio clock — a little past midnight — playing a pop song I’d rather forget. Abruptly, the singer’s voice gives way to silence as the sleep timer kicks in.
(03/27/20 6:52pm)
Conan Gray is lonely. A global pandemic has him isolated at home, surrounded by the comforts of musical instruments and Taylor Swift and Lorde posters. The real-life embodiment of #quirky, he has his long hair down and a guitar in hand as he jokes around with his fans on an Instagram Live counting down the minutes till his debut album, “Kid Krow,” is released. One thing leads to another, and before long, he’s singing his album’s singles acoustically for the camera.
(03/07/20 5:00am)
If you’ve walked through the Chappell Family gallery in Perkins Library any time recently, you’ve probably noticed it: the big colorful arrows and ribbons on the walls, the twisting wires and strange diagrams galore.
(02/29/20 5:00am)
There are some relatively new murals, finished in September 2019, in downtown Durham. Head over to East Chapel Hill Street, right across the road from Ninth Street Bakery, and you’ll find them pretty quickly. On the right, Frida Kahlo gazes upward from her colorful perch on a parking lot garage door. To her left is a similarly vibrant scene with a monarch butterfly as its centerpiece. However, should you approach them closer, you’d notice an accompanying instructional plaque.
(02/21/20 5:03am)
I really tried to have an open mind when first listening to “Changes,” but Justin Bieber certainly doesn’t make it easy. Plagued by terrible singles, desperate promotion and an image in shambles, his new album had a lot to overcome. So when Bieber’s voice erupted out of nowhere one second into the album like an alarm clock gone off far too early, my stomach sank. Not a good first impression.
(02/14/20 5:02am)
It’s not easy being a new artist. Finding an audience and dedicated listening base requires a whole lot of networking and positive word of mouth. On Spotify and other music streaming sites, small artists get swamped by massive releases from the likes of Taylor Swift and Post Malone. Quadio, a brand new streaming platform, wants to change that power relationship by flipping the exclusivity to the small artists.
(02/05/20 10:13pm)
The archetypal Grammy performance is a slow, sad piano ballad. It’s a relatively safe choice for an artist — at worst it’s slightly boring, but when done right it can be transcendental. So it’s fitting that the artist who gave exactly this kind of performance, Billie Eilish, is the one who walked away with all the biggest awards. Safe and well-deserved, it was no surprise that Billie had such a great night, but it made for an anticlimactic ceremony to say the least.
(01/30/20 5:00am)
I’m obsessed with music data. At this point, I might as well just call it what it is: an addiction. The more I can get, the better. How many songs do I listen to each day? What genres do I listen to the most? Unfortunately for me, there’s an enabler for this addiction. Its name is Last.fm.
(01/24/20 5:02am)
When Halsey confesses, “Man, I’m a f—ing liar,” at the close of her new album “Manic,” on track “929,” it comes as a revelation that, perhaps ironically, “Manic” is the most truthful work of Halsey’s career.
(01/16/20 5:02am)
The organization’s homepage on the DukeArts website is clear: “We show movies.” And they aren’t lying — that’s exactly what the DUU Freewater Presentations does. With screenings almost every Friday and Saturday, Freewater Presentations regularly provides a free movie-going experience to Duke students and the public. The selections differ every semester, usually going for newer releases. These, however, cover a wide range of options, both the gargantuan blockbusters and the smaller critical darlings. With so many choices, there will almost certainly be something to please everyone.
(01/06/20 5:00am)
With the 62nd Grammy Awards coming up on Jan. 26, it’s time to take a look at the nominees and predict who should win (and who actually will) in the ceremony’s top categories. You can find the full list of nominees here.
(12/18/19 6:31pm)
With her sophomore album “Romance,” Camila Cabello has provided a fantastically cohesive, entertaining work that is a thrill from start to finish. Throughout each song, Cabello focuses on the LP’s titular theme, and in doing so, she neatly ties the album together with a bow. But more importantly, she has crafted a wonderful photo album of romance at each of its stages, be it the first tinge of desire or the throes of a breakup.
(12/06/19 5:01am)
“Frozen 2” opens with a song about everything staying the same. Promptly, everything changes, tearing apart the happy ending the first “Frozen” movie provided in 2013. The result is a movie that is both more emotional and funnier than its predecessor. And, by forgoing a traditional villain in favor of a quest-driven plot, “Frozen 2” adds thematic weight for a children’s movie, which all makes for an engaging experience for adults and kids alike.
(11/21/19 5:03am)
Sarah Schroth would like you to know that museums don’t run themselves. It takes a lot of effort to get those paintings on the walls of the Nasher Museum of Art — 37 people, actually. And with her coming retirement in May 2020, the Nasher will have to replace one of the most important people in its history.
(11/10/19 5:01am)
“Jazz, uh, finds a way,” or so says Jeff Goldblum’s Spotify playlist. Even if this weak attempt at capitalizing on his movie star status makes you cringe, Jeff Goldblum would like you to know that he is a man of many talents. In his newly released album, “I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This,” Goldblum introduces to the world 11 new jazzy tracks.
(10/31/19 4:02am)
Duke is haunted. You can find ghosts everywhere you turn: there’s talking statues, whatever Brody Theater is and the spook-tacular Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium (what else could be filling all those empty seats?). With this in mind, I decided to go on an exploration of the supernatural here at Duke and in Durham. I’m Jonathan Pertile, and this is my story.
(10/27/19 4:01am)
With the recent resounding flop of “Gemini Man,” another movie boasting impressive technical achievements failed to make much of an impact on moviegoers. Despite its groundbreaking 120 frames per second (five times the norm), the movie will likely lose more than $75 million on a nearly $240 million budget. The movie garnered a dismal 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, largely due to a “frustratingly subpar story.” Problems plagued the movie throughout its decade-long production, from its carousel of actors and directors to its multiple script rewrites. All of this comes in spite of (because of?) using 40 times as much data as a normal movie. Why? Well, maybe it’s because high frame rates are gimmicky and not truly appreciated by audiences.
(10/18/19 4:03am)
The other night I had a nightmare. As I slept, the classic sources of horror came and went: past-due papers, terrifying heights and, uh, geese. Yes, geese. That’s what happens when you spend several hours bothering a picturesque little town as a white-winged evil demon, as I did playing as the “protagonist” goose in the viral and fantastically morally ambiguous “Untitled Goose Game.”
(10/11/19 4:01am)
The Avett Brothers’ new album, “Closer Than Together,” is a musical roller coaster of ups and downs. On their ninth studio album, the Avett Brothers get political, but these attempts are incredibly hit-or-miss, suffering from several severe cases of whiplash along the way. However, “Closer Than Together” nevertheless manages to hit the jackpot on a few songs, salvaging an otherwise lackluster album.
