Link - PAGE 74

BTS Top the Charts

BTS
Jason Tate

BTS have the number one album in the country this week.

Map of the Soul: 7 storms in atop the tally with 422,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 27, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 347,000 are in album sales. It’s the fourth No. 1 in less than two years for the seven-member South Korean pop group.

Dashboard Confessional Reflects On “Screaming Infidelities”

Dashboard Confessional
Jason Tate

Chris Carrabba talked with Stereogum about the 20-year anniversary of “Screaming Infidelities.”

But 20 years ago, when he was in the thick of it, Carrabba fretted over losing the songs on Swiss Army, two in particular: the addictively self-conscious “Again I Go Unnoticed” and album opener “Screaming Infidelities.” It felt like if those songs disappeared, “the identity of the band would be gone,” he explained. And so he cut two tracks from his already-written second album and went about re-recording those Swiss Army highlights with help from Florida friends Mike Marsh and Dan Bonebrake. “I didn’t overthink it,” Carrabba said. “The lesson that taught me was that there can always be more than one version — and maybe there should be.” (There are two iterations of love-struck fan favorite “Hands Down” too.)

Allie X Talks Creative Process Behind ‘Cape God’

Jason Tate

Allie X talked with Mike Nied over at Idolator:

I just had the lyrics and the melody to the verse of “Fresh Laundry” in my head. I sang it a cappella and Oscar just started playing that baseline in the verse. It just took shape. By the end of the day this new sound had evolved. And I was like “this feels really fresh and really interesting.” So in the days following we kept working with that palette of sounds. And we wrote “Rings A Bell,” and we wrote “Regulars.” At the end of that trip I was like “shit. This is good.”

Justin Bieber Tops the Charts

Justin Bieber
Jason Tate

Justin Bieber has the top album in the country this week:

Justin Bieber scores his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as Changes debuts atop the tally. The set, which was released on Feb. 14 via SchoolBoy/Raymond Braun/Def Jam Recordings, earned 231,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 20, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

‘Friends’ Reunion Special Announced for HBO Max

Friends
Jason Tate

Lesley Goldberg, writing at The Hollywood Reporter:

The unscripted reunion special will feature stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, as well as series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the cast, who all negotiated together, will earn more than double their former per-episode fee for the reunion and be paid between $2.5 million and $3 million for the special.

Sturgill Simpson Says He’s “Done” With Elektra Records

Sturgill Simpson
Jason Tate

Sturgill Simpson talked with Uproxx about how he’s “done” Elektra Records:

Maybe if you don’t want to be on a record label anymore, you make a record they can’t market, then you get them to spend a million bucks on an animation film and refuse to promote it, and leave them holding this giant un-recouped debt. Maybe the bean counters will make a decision for me. I can go back to just doing it myself better than they do. That’s what I’ve learned. Because they don’t know what the fuck to do with me.

Lana Del Rey Cancels Upcoming Tour

Lana Del Rey
Jason Tate

Lana Del Rey has canceled her upcoming tour due to illness.

The US singer had been due to perform in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham next week. “Sorry to let everyone down so last minute but this illness has taken me by surprise and have totally lost my singing voice,” she said in a statement.

“The doctor has advised four weeks off for the moment.”

The 34-year-old added: “I hate to let everyone down but I need to get well. Love Lana.”

Looking Back at Sum 41’s Congo Documentary

Sum 41
Jason Tate

Mike Hohnen, writing for Blunt, looks back at Sum 41’s Congo documentary:

The end result was Rocked: Sum 41 In The Congo, a documentary made in collaboration with NGO War Child Canada. It’s a story that culminates with the band under siege in a hotel room, taking shelter in bath tubs, as warring militias bombarded their surroundings.

“They almost paid with their lives to tell that particular story”, Executive Producer of War Child Canada, Dr. Samantha Nutt recalls of Rocked: Sum 41 In The Congo to Blunt Magazine.

“My job was really to brief them and to provide them with information and to answer their questions, and also to make sure to steward some of the interviews; to make sure that everything was being handled in a sensitive and appropriate way.”