Charli XCX Launches an Exhilarating New Chapter of Pop With the Innovative ‘Brat’: Album Review

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music In a brief Instagram Live video Wednesday, Donald Glover — aka Childish Gambino — somewhat clarified the burst of unclear messaging about his new album and film that appeared on the Internet the previous night.CHILDISH GAMBINOLITHONIAJULY 2 pic.twitter.com/Hqg3jaSoVa Several online posts stated that he has a project titled “Lithonia” arriving on July 2, which was accompanied by an official-looking graphic and a photograph of letters projected onto a wall simply stating “Bando is coming.” All of those things were consistent with the cryptic messaging he’s been dropping for the past few weeks via his Gilga Radio show and website — Lithonia is a city near Atlanta, setting of his popular television series; Bando is part of the title of his next album and film — but it was unclear where these messages came from, although some pointed to a post that appeared briefly on the streaming distributor Audiomack before being taken down. In a rambling talk Wednesday night on Instagram Live — that was frequently paused by poor connectivity — as he wandered around his beloved California farm, Glover said that what is arriving on July 2 is a single titled “Lithonia” that is apparently a prequel to the album.

Variety‘s music staff — executive editor Jem Aswad, senior writer Steven J. Horowitz, associate editor Thania Garcia and senior writer/chief music critic Chris Willman — to playlist your summer and beyond.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music After your masterplan succeeds and so many of your dreams come true… then what? That is a question a 26-year-old Prince may well have been asking himself after “Purple Rain” transformed him into a global superstar virtually overnight (or whatever passed for “overnight” in 1984). While his rise was gradual — “Purple Rain,” released on this day 40 years ago, was Prince’s sixth album — there’s no disputing the remarkable speed with which his fame skyrocketed during the summer of “Ghostbusters,” the Los Angeles Olympics and “Born in the U.S.A.” Granted, musical careers, like nearly everything else, moved more gradually back then.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Rob Stone, who co-founded the influential music marketing company Cornerstone Agency and the magazine the Fader, died Monday after a battle with cancer, according to social media posts from his family and his longtime friend and co-CEO Jon Cohen. He was 55. “It is with a heavy heart and sadness we share the news of the passing of Rob Stone,” his family wrote.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Lainey Wilson and Chuck D joined U.S. Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken and YouTube’s head of music Lyor Cohen in Washington D.C.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Fast-rising pop singer-songwriter Chappell Roan made a memorable appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” Thursday, wearing a wild feathered black outfit for her chat with the host before donning a completely different feather-bedecked dress to perform her latest single, “Good Luck, Babe!” Her performance of the song was vivid, as she showed off her formidable vocal range on the final “I told you so!” segment of the song from a surreal garden-like setting, which begin and ended with her singing while seated on a throne shaped like a white swan. The interview — her first on late-night TV — was lively from the start.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Kendrick Lamar did not half-step during the opening of his “Pop Out” concert in Los Angeles on Wednesday night: He not only opened his set with the Drake diss “Euphoria,” he rolled out a new verse for it: ““Give me Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect.”KENDRICK OPENING UP WITH PERFORMING EUPHORIA FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH EVERY ONE SINGING ALONGTHIS IS LEGENDARY SHIT

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Verzuz, the online platform launched during the pandemic by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, has struck a distribution partnership with Elon Musk’s X. The pair made the announcement during Cannes Lions conference in France on Wednesday. Earlier in the year, Swizz and Timbaland reacquired Verzuz from their previous partner Triller and now own 100% of the platform, while retaining their equity (along with the artists who participated in Verzuz) in Triller, according to the announcement.

Charli XCX was joined on stage in Los Angeles this weekend by Addison Rae for a performance of their remix of ‘Von Dutch’ – watch the footage below.Earlier this year, Charli and TikTok star Addison teamed up on a remix of ‘Von Dutch’, alongside A.G. Cook.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Coldplay have announced the release of their tenth studio album, “Moon Music,” slated for release on October 4.
The album’s first single, “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” is due this
Friday. The album is produced by Max Martin, who has worked with everyone from Britney Spears and the Weeknd to Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Jeremy Tepper, a musician, journalist, executive, program director of SiriusXM’s “Outlaw Country” channel and for decades a leading light of the Americana/ alt-country movement, died Friday of a heart attack. Singer Laura Cantrell, Tepper’s wife of 27 years, confirmed the news on social media. He was 60.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Songwriters Hall of Fame, which staged its annual awards ceremony on Thursday night, is an institution and an event unlike any other in the music industry, even though many of its elements are hardly unique and many things about it have barely changed over decades, and possibly since it launched in 1969. Indeed, we say many of the same things about the ceremony in an article very similar to this one every year — it’s a combination of an awards show, a family reunion and a trade event that is invite-only yet features a mind-blowing array of Grammy-level, once-in-a-lifetime performances and tributes, always held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York’s Times Square.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s probably safe to assume that anyone who clicked on this article already knows the context of David Bowie’s culture-shifting 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” which is indisputably one of the greatest and most influential albums of the rock era. If not, play the album immediately, click here and here — and save “Rock and Roll Star,” the sprawling new 5-CD, superfan’s-dream-come-true boxed set, for when you inevitably become a superfan yourself, because this definitely is not the place to start your relationship with the album.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The four founding members of R.E.M. performed together publicly for the first time in nearly three decades at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony in New York on Thursday night, playing an acoustic version of their breakthrough song, 1987’s “Losing My Religion.” With characteristic understatement, the group — singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry — showed their respect for the honor and the institution, their friendship and decades-long bond, and in gracious terms, fans, family, friends, and everyone who helped them along the way.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The National Music Publishers Assn. has filed a legal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Spotify, primarily to oppose its recent plan to bundle music and audiobooks, which will result in a lower mechanical royalty rate for songwriters and artists, estimated to be a $150 million annual loss.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music If there was one place to be in New York on Tuesday night, it was Charli XCX’s show at Brooklyn’s newly reopened and spectacularly renovated 1920s-era Paramount Theater. Matty Healy and his girlfriend Gabriette Bechtel (who chose the occasion to apparently announce their engagement) were in the house, as were Lorde, Julia Fox, Lily Allen and probably other luminaries.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Any New Yorkers who missed Chappell Roan’s iconic performance at Governors Ball last weekend will get another chance in September, when the inaugural New York edition of the All Things Go festival takes place at Forest Hills Stadium. Headliners are Roan, Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, Muna, Ethel Cain, and Julien Baker.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music When Indian-American singer-songwriter Zeshan B takes the stage and begins to perform, it’s safe to say that the sound you first expect to hear is not classic, gospel-infused R&B with passionate lyrics about American social justice. Nor, when you look at the credits for Zeshan’s forthcoming third album, “O Say, Can You See?,” do you expect to see the words “Executive Producer: Preet Bharara” — the former U.S.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Tom Verlaine — the guitar virtuoso, cofounder and “frontman” of the pioneering New York group Television, who died last year — might be the most low-key guitar hero in rock history. If he had only ever released “Marquee Moon,” Television’s galvanizing 1977 debut album, his place in history still would be assured: The album, which brought the sounds of late-period Velvet Underground and the early Rolling Stones into a musical era filled with bloated solos and every imaginable excess, is one of the great guitar albums of all time.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Black Keys and managers Irving Azoff and Steve Moir have parted ways after the sudden and thoroughly publicized cancellation of the band’s North American arena tour previously scheduled for the fall. A rep for Azoff confirmed the split to Variety late Thursday, calling it an “amicable parting”; a rep for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The news was first reported by the New York Times.