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Meg & Dia Return: Inside Their Post-‘Voice’ Struggle & New Surprise Album

Meg and Dia
Jason Tate

Chris Payne, writing at Billboard:

Those pressure-packed Voice performances drained Dia’s onstage exuberance over most of the past decade. “For years after The Voice, I had a really hard time performing,” says Dia. “Perfectionism took over my life.” Even worse, her newfound solo career ravaged her relationship with her older sister, once her closest confidante in an unforgiving industry. “It was like having my identity and my best friend taken away at the same time,” says the elder Frampton, now willing to criticize the way she reacted to Dia’s ascent.

For years, the sisters didn’t speak. “I had tied up all my self-worth in being famous, having money, and being a rock star,” says Meg. “I felt really jealous, thinking my sister was gonna be rich and famous, and I’d have nothing left.”

A Wikipedia for Generation Z

The Atlantic
Jason Tate

Taylor Lorenz, writing for The Atlantic:

If you want to know who the biggest TikTok star is right now, who is in Emma Chamberlain’s squad, or where Baby Ariel grew up, only one website will give you the answers: Famous Birthdays.

Despite its name, the site contains more than just birthdays—it’s more like a constantly updated, highly detailed map of who matters to the teen internet, featuring a mix of biographical information, photos, videos, rankings, and detailed statistics on every social-media star you could think of. And to teenagers, it’s a bible. “They have everything you want to know about everyone who is important,” says Grace, a 14-year-old in St. Louis.

Charles Porch, the head of global creative partnerships at Instagram, says that Famous Birthdays is like the younger generation’s Tiger Beat. “You might know about Famous Birthdays if you’re a parent,” Porch says. “But you definitely know about it if you’re a kid, and you definitely know about it if you’re a creator. Is it adult mainstream yet? No, but that doesn’t matter.” The site has 20 million unique visitors a month—more than a million more than Entertainment Weekly, and four times as many as Teen Vogue.

Well, reading this article gave me my daily “holy shit I’m starting to feel my age” moment.

Travis Barker ‘Disgusted’ Over Echosmith Drummer Allegedly Contacting His Daughter

Echosmith
Jason Tate

Echosmith’s drummer has allegedly been sending some creepy messages to Travis Barker’s daughter:

Barker tells The Blast, “When I found out a 20 year old man was trying to get in touch with my 13 year old daughter by filling her Instagram messages with party invites and compliments I was disgusted.”

Barker continues, “That’s predatory behavior and there is nothing cool, normal or ok about it at all.”

This does not appear to be the first time something like this has happened.

Read More “Travis Barker ‘Disgusted’ Over Echosmith Drummer Allegedly Contacting His Daughter”

Blink-182’s Peter Pan Complex

Enema of the State
Jason Tate

Alan Siegel, writing at The Ringer:

The story of Enema of the State, however, isn’t solely one about Blink-182’s big break. It’s also, like much of the most memorable pop music from 1999, about the perfect marriage of artist and producer as well as the profound influence of MTV. And yes, the tale contains plenty of gratuitous nudity.

This is a fun piece.

“Old Town Road” Breaks Billboard Hot 100 Record

Billboard
Jason Tate

Entertainment Weekly:

Lil Nas X has proven all those remixes were worth it now that his single “Old Town Road” is the longest-running No. 1 song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.

For 17 weeks, Lil Nas X’s fusion of country and trap has sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. That’s one week longer than previous record holders “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber and “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.

Etsy Is Acquiring Reverb

Jason Tate

Dami Lee, writing at The Verge:

Etsy, the e-commerce platform for handmade goods, is acquiring music gear marketplace Reverb for $275 million in cash. The site, which sells new, used, and vintage musical instruments and accessories, will continue to operate as a standalone business.

The Man With the Golden Airline Ticket

Jason Tate

Caroline Rothstein:

On March 10, 2009, a case was filed in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where I grew up. Rothstein v. American Airlines, Inc. starred my father, Plaintiff Steven Rothstein, and the Defendant, then the world’s third-largest airline. With $23 billion in annual revenue, American Airlines had nothing to lose. For my father, it was a last-ditch effort to save his life.

Here’s how it all took off. In the early 1980s, American rolled out AAirpass, a prepaid membership program that let very frequent flyers purchase discounted tickets by locking in a certain number of annual miles they presumed they might fly in advance. My 30-something-year-old father, having been a frequent flyer for his entire life, purchased one. Then, a few years later, American introduced something straight out an avid traveler’s fantasy: an unlimited ticket.

Fascinating story.

My Frantic Life as a Cab-Dodging, Tip-Chasing Food App Deliveryman

The New York Times
Jason Tate

Andy Newman, writing at The New York Times:

On my first DoorDash shift, a lunch run in Brooklyn, I learned about the company’s interesting tipping policy.

DoorDash offers a guaranteed minimum for each job. For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85.

Here’s how it works: If the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me.

Ed Sheeran Tops the Charts

Ed Sheeran
Jason Tate

Ed Sheeran has the number one album this week:

The set, which was released on July 12 via Atlantic Records, bows with 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 18, according to Nielsen Music. It marks the largest week of the year for a pop album by a male artist. Of that starting sum, 70,000 were in album sales.

Live Nation Helped Metallica and Other Artists Place Tickets Directly On Resale Market

Billboard
Jason Tate

Billboard:

The recording, which would have been legal to make without one party’s consent under both New York and Texas state laws, offers an unprecedented view into how thousands of concert tickets for major tours have been sold first on the secondary market — where resellers can mark up prices — without being offered to the public at face value. It also shows the extent to which the rise of online ticket sites has put pressure on artists and promoters to capture more of the profits resellers are making — and how Live Nation is uniquely positioned to help solve the problem, as the owner of the world’s biggest ticketing platform that even its rivals use.