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Zayn, Zayn, Zayn. The big push for the former One Directioner turned out to be so much hype. Zayn Malik’s debut album, “Mind of Mine,” sold a mere 115,000 copies in its debut. There was another 46,000 in streams. Even though it finished at number 1, “MoM” did pretty poorly compared to One Direction itself or other recent pop idols. The album looks like another hot first week, then a big drop.
Next week, Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo” could over take it depending on streaming and sales on Kanye’s website– and how they’re all reported. Kanye could have had a Number 1 already, but he depended on Tidal and no CDs. It’s not working out.
Adele hangs in there at number 3 after almost five months with another 40,000 copies sold of “25.” She and Zayn, by the way, share a publicist. Zayn still has no single climbing the charts, and that’s part of what’s hurt his sales. “Pillow talk” has already waxed and waned.
LOL. Poor George Clooney. Are we surprised by this? Most of the newsstand stories about celebrities is fiction. Apparently, Hello Magazine tried it with Clooney. The sad part is that no one checks, everyone just picks these things up and reprints them.
I’m not even going to see what Hello printed and reprint it here, since it never happened. Probably Amal is pregnant with an alien child or George is running for vice president with Hillary. Good grief.
George says in an email:
“Hello Magazine has printed an “EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ” with me that has been widely picked up and reprinted.
Outlets like Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, The Sun, and The Evening Standard have all printed my exclusive interview and credited Hello Magazine.
The problem is that I have not given an interview to Hello Magazine and the quotes attributed to me are not accurate.
In my experience, being misquoted is not unusual but to have an “exclusive interview” completely fabricated is something new.
And a very disturbing trend.”
A little PS I see what happened– George gave this interview to Ellen DeGeneres on her show. Hello, maybe learning from a certain Hollywood trade magazine, just took the interview and made it seem like their own. Oy vey.
Brandy, you’re a fine girl. But maybe not a good litigant. The pop/R&B/BET star has filed a lawsuit against Chameleon Entertainment, the production company she is signed to, claiming they stopped her from recording a new album and pulled the plug on a multi-album deal at RCA.
But that’s not exactly true. In January Brandy released a single “Begging and Pleading” on her own label (it’s available on iTunes) with no interference from Chameleon. It dropped on the night her new BET sitcom debuted. And RCA? She was dropped by them after the one album she made there, “Two Eleven,” sold just 180,000 copies in 2012. (Her name was removed from their website in 2013.)
Here’s some history: Brandy had huge multi million selling hits on Atlantic Records from 1994 to 2002. But her sales began to decline as tastes changed, downloading cut into sales, and her audience moved on. She went from selling over 1 million copies in 2002 with “Full Moon” to just 400,000 in 2004 for “Afrodisiac.”
Brandy left Atlantic at that point for Epic Records, which is part of Sony Music. Her 2008 album, called “Knockout,” bombed, selling just 214,000 copies. Epic, undergoing a leadership change, dropped her. Brandy’s run as an R&B pop queen was over.
Now without a label deal, Brandy signed a production deal (not a management deal) with Chameleon, run by Breyon Prescott. (Prescott also works with Jamie Foxx, and has been instrumental in his music career.) With no recent hits, Brandy’s career was cool to the touch. But Chameleon got her signed to RCA which was surprising because she’d failed in the Sony Music family already. Under Chameleon-RCA Brandy put out a good new album in 2012, the first of what was supposed to be a six album deal. “Two Eleven” gave her her first top 10 chart single in four years, called “Put it Down,” with Chris Brown.
RCA was not happy. The expense of promoting “Two Eleven” far exceeded money made from the paltry 180,000 copies sold. Plus, sources say, “Brandy was more interested in doing TV, movies and Broadway than in touring for the album.” She made less than a dozen appearances including three or four TV shows and three actual gigs. RCA cut their losses and dropped her. You’d think she was done at Sony Music for good this time.
But Brandy was still signed to Chameleon. In that time, Prescott had joined her old label, Epic Records — under the same Sony corporate banner — as RCA an A&R exec for black, or urban, music. Prescott, I’m told, managed to get Brandy a new contract at Epic. Only this time, the label asked for a 360 deal– one in which they would get a cut of her other businesses like tours and merchandise. That way, if a new album bombed, they’d be protected to some extent. (As touring has overtaken record sales in revenue, 360 deals are common nowadays.)
The deal, I’m told, was worth $600,000 with a $75,000 advance. Brandy balked, and never signed the contract. But there were no other offers. No other label wanted her, and so she did not make a new record.
That was two years ago. The Epic offer remains. (As for ‘double dipping’ — which Brandy accuses Prescott of– I can’t make sense of it myself. She’s still signed to Chameleon, and they’ve just managed to take her from one dead deal at Sony to a live one.)
In her lawsuit, Brandy accuses Prescott of blocking her from recording anything. But I found two recent releases that seem to negate that claim: in January 2016 she released the very retro “Begging and Pleading,” on her own label. (I found it on iTunes.) Chameleon didn’t protest or stop her from releasing it, sources say. They didn’t even know about it in advance.
In 2015, Brandy also re-recorded her vocals for a new version of one of her old hits (“The Girl is Mine”) which was released in the U.K. Again, Chameleon let it pass rather than raise a ruckus. “No one stopped her,” says an observer.
So far I haven’t seen mention of Brandy being dropped by RCA, snubbing a new Epic contract, or releasing new records without Chameleon’s permission, in any of the stories published this week. What I was able to find were Brandy’s tributes to Chameleon and RCA– as shown in the feature photo with this story.
What’s complicated the story is that Brandy, critics say, uses her music as a tool to promote her acting career. Her critics say she doesn’t seem to get that the majors are not knocking her door down. In the environment of the record business now, she’s lucky to have a deal. (I can think of dozens of former pop stars who don’t have any label.)
“When she got the new show on BET”– a sitcom called “Zoe Ever After”– “she wanted to put out a single. She just put out Begging and Pleading without asking anyone at Chameleon. And no one objected. But look, it just sat there. It didn’t do a thing. All she had to do was sign her Epic contract and start making records. That’s all she has to do. No one is stopping her.”
So you want to buy a digital download of Kanye West’s “Life of Pablo”? If it were available on iTunes or Amazon, it might cost $11.99 at most. On amazon, his older albums are priced around five, six and seven dollars.
But Kanye isn’t selling it there. He’s selling it on his own website, kanyewest.com, for 20 bucks. That’s it. You want it, Kanye’s saying, then pay up.
Otherwise, “Pablo” is only available on streaming services through a subscription.
It’s a new way of doing business. At first, “Pablo” was only on Tidal, and pretty messy as a draft of an album.
For this new iteration, the album has been cleaned up and made to sound like an actual release. It’s a very good album, too. Kanye says it’s a masterpiece and probably will demand a Grammy award for it. All that aside, it’s an interesting record. I wish it were on CD so it could be played on a proper stereo system.
“Pablo” is a collage of Kanye’s rants, lots of guest cameos, and samples of other music. The white Motown group of the late 60s, Rare Earth, is revived, for example. Rihanna sings better on “Famous” than she does on her own album. All the songs have long lists of composers and collaborators.
But if you want “Pablo,” so far there are no discounts. Twenty bucks. And Kanye says there will be updates. Unclear if you have to pay for them too. But it’s likely.
You do remember when Kanye West Tweeted that his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” would “never ever” be on Apple Music? Or for that matter, Spotify?
Alas, that’s where it will be after midnight tonight. After sinking into obscurity on Tidal, Jay Z’s service, “Pablo” is about to have a life. And apparently, this is a more finished version. This week Kanye already released a track to Spotify called “Famous.” I told you yesterday the song has 17 credited writers.
Tidal is all but done at this point. A valiant idea, the service could not cross over for the mainstream acts that signed up as “partners” or investors or whatever. Rihanna gave in right away. If she hadn’t, her “Anti” album would have remained MIA.
Now Jay Z is suing the people he bought Tidal from, saying they lied about the number of subscribers they had. Well, of course they did. They’re in Sweden. How many people are in Sweden? Who listen to streaming music?
“The Life of Pablo” meanwhile should be downloadable imminently, too, and probably issued as a CD. This means Kanye– who has already Tweeted dozens of times today– will be in his own spotlight for weeks to come.
This news certainly puts a crimp in the Zayn story for next week. This past week it looks like Zayn sold an anemic 110K copies of his debut album. Hard numbers in the AM.
Paul McCartney is releasing a 67 track box set on June 10th, which would have been a nice birthday present for me. However, he’s omitted a lot of important stuff, like all his Elvis Costello collaborations, for example. Also, he’s dropped the best single he made in the late 70s-early 80s, “Daytime Nighttime Suffering.” Really? There was also a very cool remix of “Take Me Away” made available this year, also absent from this box.
I would have liked “Tomorrow” from the “Wings Wild Life” album, and “No Words” from “Band on the Run.” The problem with Paul is that he has just too big a catalog. But he’s missed all tracks from his wonderful “Unplugged” album, or the under-rated “Ever Present Past.” There’s also nothing from “Flowers in the Dirt,” one of his absolutely best albums ever. What can you do? “Pure McCartney” is designed as a souvenir for Paul’s still incredbile stadium and arena shows. You can’t have everything.
DISC 1:
1. Maybe I’m Amazed
2. Heart Of The Country
3. Jet
4. Warm And Beautiful
5. Listen To What The Man Said
6. Dear Boy
7. Silly Love Songs
8. The Song We Were Singing
9. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey
10. Another Day
11. Sing The Changes
12. Jenny Wren
13. Save Us
14. Mrs Vandebilt
15. Mull of Kintyre
16. Let ‘Em In
17. Let Me Roll It
18. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
19. Ebony and Ivory
DISC 2:
1. Band on the Run
2. Arrow Through Me
3. My Love
4. Live and Let Die
5. Too Much Rain
6. Goodnight Tonight
7. Say Say Say [2015 Remix]
8. My Valentine
9. The World Tonight
10. Pipes of Peace
11. Dance Tonight
12. Here Today
13. Wanderlust
14. Great Day
15. Coming Up
16. No More Lonely Nights
17. Only Mama Knows
18. With a Little Luck
19. Hope For The Future
20. Junk
‘PURE McCARTNEY’: 4CD – 67 tracks
DISC 1:
1. Maybe I’m Amazed
2. Heart Of The Country
3. Jet
4. Warm And Beautiful
5. Listen To What The Man Said
6. Dear Boy
7. Silly Love Songs
8. The Song We Were Singing
9. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey
10. Early Days
11. Big Barn Bed
12. Another Day
13. Flaming Pie
14. Jenny Wren
15. Too Many People
16. Let Me Roll It
17. New
DISC 2:
1. Live and Let Die
2. English Tea
3. Mull of Kintyre
4. Save Us
5. My Love
6. Bip Bop
7. Let ‘Em In
8. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
9. Calico Skies
10. Hi, Hi, Hi
11. Waterfalls
12. Band on the Run
13. Appreciate
14. Sing The Changes
15. Arrow Through Me
16. Every Night
17. Junior’s Farm
18. Mrs Vandebilt
DISC 3:
1. Say Say Say [2015 Remix]
2. My Valentine
3. Pipes of Peace
4. The World Tonight
5. Souvenir
6. Dance Tonight
7. Ebony and Ivory
8. Fine Line
9. Here Today
10. Press
11. Wanderlust
12. Winedark Open Sea
13. Beautiful Night
14. Girlfriend
15. Queenie Eye
16. We All Stand Together
DISC 4:
1. Coming Up
2. Too Much Rain
3. Good Times Coming / Feel the Sun
4. Goodnight Tonight
5. Baby’s Request
6. With a Little Luck
7. Little Willow
8. Only Mama Knows
9. Don’t Let it Bring You Down
10. The Back Seat Of My Car
11. No More Lonely Nights
12. Great Day
13. Venus and Mars / Rock Show
14. Temporary Secretary
15. Hope For The Future
16. Junk
VINYL:
A1:
1. Maybe I’m Amazed
2. Heart Of The Country
3. Jet
4. Warm And Beautiful
5. Listen To What The Man Said
6. Dear Boy
A2:
1. Silly Love Songs
2. The Song We Were Singing
3. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey
4. Another Day
5. New
B1:
1. Mull of Kintyre
2. Sing The Changes
3. Jenny Wren
4. Mrs Vandebilt
5. Save Us
B2:
1. Let ‘Em In
2. Let Me Roll It
3. Ebony and Ivory
4. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
C1:
1. Band on the Run
2. Arrow Through Me
3. My Love
4. Live and Let Die
5. Too Much Rain
C2:
1. Say Say Say [2015 Remix]
2. My Valentine
3. Goodnight Tonight
4. The World Tonight
5. Pipes of Peace
D1:
1. Dance Tonight
2. Here Today
3. Wanderlust
4. Great Day
5. Coming Up
6. No More Lonvely Nights
D2:
1. Too Many People
2. Only Mama Knows
3. With a Little Luck
4. Hope For The Future
5. Junk
Twelve days seems like an eternity at the box office when you have a turkey. And it’s gobbling at Lions Gate, where “Divergent: Allegiant” has simply collapsed since its release almost 2 weeks ago. The numbers speak for themselves:
“Divergent” after 12 days $97,984,257
“Insurgent” after 12 days $89,693,985
“Allegiant” after 12 days $48,915,840
So now what? Plans for part 4, “Ascendant,” seem folly unless the filmmakers can come up with something– like a cross over from “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight.” Otherwise, why bother when the take on a new film would be another 50% down from this one. Will “Ascendant” even be made? Will fans be left hanging? Will anyone care? Oy vey.
What took so long? “Empire” is finally getting a knock off series. from black media titan Radio One’s Cathy Hughes.
Hughes is calling her series “Cathy Hughes Presents “Media”– a soap opera about a black family with a media empire called JUMP — Jones Universal Media Productions. (Hughes’ maiden name is Jones.) They have a family company called Intrigue (the knock off of “Empire”).
And true to “Empire,” there’s a matriarch, and a family member returning from a stint in jail “ready to take their place in the family company.” That son, Jabbar, will fight his brother for control of the company, etc.
This could be the story of the radio and TV stations where Lucious and Cookie Lyon get their music played and promoted.
Here’s my note: did we ever think that “Dallas” and “Dynasty” would become the Shakespeare of the 2010s?
Anyway, you know Cathy Hughes’s real story, and that of her son Alfred Liggins III, would make a better soap opera. She is totally self made, inventing the “Quiet Storm” format on R&B radio in the seventies, then creating Radio One, then TV One, and turning her son into a media mogul. If you’re not black, you know nothing about them. But these two are incredibly important figures in the media business. Radio One has $1.4 billion in assets.
“Cathy Hughes Presents Media” is produced by Sheila Ducksworth, Susan Banks, Kevin Arkadie, and Mitchell Galin. Craig Ross Jr. is directing the pilot, written by Kevin Arkadie.
Last night, out of left field: Starz Channel showed us the first two episodes of “The Girlfriend Experience,” in which Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie, granddaughter of Priscilla, become a bona fide star. She also pretty much takes it all off as a young legal assistant in Chicago who decides without looking back to become a high priced prostitute.
This is based on Steven Soderbergh’s movie of the same name. Soderbergh is the executive producer here, and his stamp is all over it. This is one of the best looking TV shows ever. Sleek, and gorgeously shot. It’s a little soft core, but G rated compared to stuff on Cinemax.
Starz’ Chris Albrecht obviously knows he has a winner here since the premiere was at the Paris Theater followed by a takeover of Nobu 57. That’s not so usual these days. But Albrecht I think will be proven right.
The audience was a heady mix of stars and media types, from Hearst Magazines’ Ellen Levine and doctor husband Richard to Broadway types like Billy Magnussen and Lena Hall, writer- director Oren Moverman, director Tony Gilroy, the cast and Soderbergh himself with wife, our old pal Jules Asner.
And yes, I did ask Soderbergh about his brief “retirement” from feature films and his upcoming return with “Lucky Logan.” Channing Tatum does star in it, and Matt Damon, Soderbergh confirmed, “is in it.” Soderbergh, one of my favorite directors of my own generation, told me: “You’ll have to wait to see why I’m doing this. There’s a whole story around it that will make sense.”
Listen, we’re just glad he’s back! Meantime, “The Girlfriend Experience” should be a break out hit for Starz.
Elvis fans: for some reason Riley was off limits last night. But do watch her in this series. From some angles, she looks amazingly like Priscilla Presley. Elvis made a good choice all those years ago!
Aretha Franklin is not happy. She’s not happy with the odd write- around piece in this week’s New Yorker by editor in chief David Remnick. (I’m actually surprised by it myself as Remnick usually does such a good job.)
The lengthy piece carries barely a quote from Aretha, but lots and lots of biographical detail ferreted from other sources. In particular, the main source seems to be David Ritz’s questionable (and poor selling) unauthorized biography published 18 months ago. Ritz scrapped together outtakes from the official biography he’d written with Aretha in 1999, and published them without her permission.
Remnick seems not to get it as he mucks around in tabloid sensationalism. Remnick says of Ritz’s book “none of the sources, including those closest to her, have backed away.” That’s because nearly everyone he cites is dead and nothing can be verified. So much for being a “skilled biographer.” (The books, called “Respect,” but which shows none, sits at number 33,363 on amazon.com, bereft of sales.)
Aretha told me she rejects Remnick’s whole line of reasoning about why she threw her mink down on the Kennedy Center stage this past December– because, Remnick says, it something to do with the church, or with gospel. (In all likelihood, she was recalling pop star Jackie Wilson, her friend and fellow Detroiter.)
She told me in an email: “He’s the kind of writer who makes it bad for other writers…clearly he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s quoting people who are deceased and clearly he knows nothing about the church and little about my father— AND THE FUR ON FLOOR AT KENNEDY CENTER HAD NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE CHURCH !!!! You give valuable time you could spend with WELL MEANING PEOPLE AND POSITIVE PEOPLE AND WIND UP SOMETIMES WITH UNAPPRECIATIVE NEGATIVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS WRITER !!! Unfortunately it’s par for the course and it’s the downside of show business. It’s too bad we don’t have a crystal ball and and could see them coming so we don’t waste valuable time with them!!!”
The real story of Aretha Franklin in 2016 is seeing her perform live. The concerts I’ve seen just in the last year, some of them of are the best of her career. She is a magnificent presence, unequaled and never to be duplicated, still able to offer a singular, remarkable voice and sometimes even, a little dance that shows there’s plenty of life left in the Queen of Soul. I wish Remnick had focused more on that.
PS I almost did a spit-take when I read what must be the the greatest name drop in this century. Remnick– looking for support– actually wrote these words: “I emailed President Obama…” He did what??? Talk about throwing down your fur…
