Beyoncé Launches Scholarship Program

Beyoncé Launches Scholarship Program
Jason Tate

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, she has announced a new scholarship program for young women:

Four scholarships will be awarded, one per college, to female incoming, current or graduate students pursuing studies in creative arts, music, literature, or African-American studies. The schools selected for participation are Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design, and Spelman College. All details and application deadlines are available directly from the colleges.

Doritos Bags That Play Music Are a Thing

Guardians of the Galaxy
Jason Tate

Doritos and Marvel have teamed up to release bags of chips that will play the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack:

The custom bags will be available for consumer purchase on April 28 via Amazon.com/Doritos while supplies last. On May 5 — the release date for the second installment in the Guardians franchise — Doritos will also host Rock Out Loud pop-up recording booths in New York and Los Angeles. Fans will get the chance to sing one of the Marvel/Hollywood Records soundtrack’s classic tunes. In addition, they’ll have the opportunity to win various prizes, including the custom cassette player replica Doritos bags, concert and other event tickets and free bags of Doritos.

The cheese dust makes the music sound “warmer.”

Behind the Chorus to “Call Me Maybe”

Carly Rae Jepsen
Jason Tate

Carly Rae Jepsen sat down with Billboard to talk about the chorus of “Call Me Maybe” and how she feels about the song today:

The next day, Jepsen and Crowe brought the song to Josh Ramsay, the leader of pop-rock group Marianas Trench, who suggested that they turn the song’s pre-chorus into its proper chorus. “He went, ‘That pre-chorus is way hookier than the chorus that you guys have, so let’s repeat it,’” says Jepsen. From there, “Call Me Maybe” — originally more of a folk-leaning track, in the vein of Jepsen’s earlier singer-songwriter work — was re-imagined as a bubblegum pop track by Ramsay, who ended up producing the song. “He got inspired and started adding strings,” remembers Jepsen. “before we knew it, it had this whole new life.”

Billboard recently released a list of the “100 greatest choruses” of the 21st century. Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard, Fun., Jimmy Eat World, and Walk the Moon all feature.

Robert Pirsig Passes Away

Jason Tate

Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has passed away. He was 88.

Robert M. Pirsig, whose “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” a dense and discursive novel of ideas, became an unlikely publishing phenomenon in the mid-1970s and a touchstone in the waning days of the counterculture, died on Monday at his home in South Berwick, Me. He was 88.

Review: The Maine – Lovely, Little, Lonely

The Maine - Lovely Little Lonely
Becky Kovach

The Maine has come a long way since the release of their debut full-length album, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. In the past decade they’ve grown from young kids with a dream into truly talented musicians – a fact that is evident in their latest album Lovely, Little, Lonely.

Even though each song on Lovely, Little Lonely is a hit in its own right, they make the most sense within the context of the whole. The album flows seamlessly from one song to the next and as a result The Maine succeeds in crafting a story that demands your full attention from start to finish.

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