Is he singing? Are they playing? Is it Memorex? I have no idea. It’s very odd, that’s for sure. How dark does it have to be? How much can you obscure a mic? When the album comes out, let’s go back and compare the tracks.
Anyway here is Zayn, one the eve of teen zeal. Sounds like a Cowboy Junkies song, frankly:
Woody Allen’s still untitled new film, a comedy set in the 1930s, has been sold to Amazon. They will choose a distributor, and release the film next fall. Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, and Kristen Stewart star in it.
The news is a little bit of a surprise since Woody’s last several films have been with Sony Pictures Classics. SPC could still distribute the film.
The Amazon connection comes through Woody’s 6 part TV series, which also went to Amazon. Jeff Bezos really wants some Oscar action, and figures he might get it through Woody. You never know. Woody is Oscar magic- think Blanchett, Wiest, Keaton and so on.
I am told that the film is supposedly much better than Woody’s last two, Magic in the Moonlight and Irrational Man, which were strike outs after big hits like Vicki Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, and Blue Jasmine.
Amazon also paid a decent price– something that was getting harder and harder to find. They’ll release into theaters and do an exclusive for their Prime members.
Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party, his 40th, was as hip and plugged in as ever. No wonder this truly is the most coveted ticketed in town. Celebrities just kept pouring in. Chris Rock, with girlfriend Megalyn Echikunwoke, whom he seemed smitten with, sat with Caitlyn Jenner and her bestie, fellow transgender Candis Cayne.
When I asked Chris how he was doing pre-Oscars, which he’s hosting in case you live under a rock and didn’t know, he told me that, “I’m going to do the best I can.” To which Caitlyn replied, “that’s the only way to do it honey.” Chris retorted, “Well you know a little something about pressure,” to which Caitlyn replied, “me…nah!” She then went on to tell Chris, “Babe, you are going to kill it!” Chris, as gracious as ever, just downplayed all.
Jamie Foxx then joined in the conversation and told Chris, “I cannot wait for you, you’re the king,” as he put his hand on his shoulder. Jaime was front and center with a bevy of ladies and the bopping up and down and just being the uber fan to everyone who performed on stage.
When, in one of the breaks, Clive introduced Virgin’s Richard Branson, the British mogul was literally leaving the men;s room as Clive called his name. Branson bounded down the stairs waving and went to his table to be greeted by Ringo Starr who gave him a high five.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and producer/songwriter Bruce Roberts with Grammy and Oscar Nominee Diane Warren were chatting it up, along with President Obama’s White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and her lovely daughter Laura.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton brought the PDA to the event, boy did they ever, as Gwen snuggled in his lap for most of the night. When Sylvester Stallone and wife Jennifer came in and sat at their table, Sly quickly glanced at the two smooching and exclaimed, “You two get a room,” to which Blake got up and gave Sly a kiss on the cheek and then a bear hug. Blake exclaimed, “hugging Rocky southern style.”
When Carly Simon performed “You’re So Vain,” which literally had everyone standing, Gwen jokingly pointed to Blake as Carly sang.
John Legend and his very pregnant model wife Chrissy Teigen went over to say hello to Josh Groban and his lady actress Kat Dennings and Meghan Trainor who was also at their table. The ladies were admiring Chrissy’s massive cleavage, to which John quipped, “I’m a lucky guy.”
Barry Manilow–ever the trouper after oral surgery– performed but left early because of it, to which Kathy Griffin gave him a gentle kiss on his way out, saying, “ugh, I don’t want to hurt you.”
All the performers gave it their musical all. Whom did Paul Schaffer– whose date was his lovely daughter Victoria–think topped the night? “Elle King rocked it. Everyone was sensational, but Elle King just blew it away.”
Clive’s party is consistently the one Hollywood soiree that blows everyone away. On to the 41st! Go Clive!
Beyonce at the Super Bowl. Beyonce in “Formation.” Beyonce presenting the final Grammy Award. Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce.
Trust me. The recent spate of Beyonce is not a coincidence. I am told that her new album will drop “sometime” before her world tour tour begins on April 27th.
“Formation” is just the lead single and there is much to come. A big pressing question will be: what notice will she give Sony? And will Sony let her stream exclusively or do anything else on Tidal, the streaming service owned by her husband, a Mr. Jay Z?
So far, Tidal has wrecked new releases from Rihanna and Kanye West. Because of the screwed up Tidal situation, Rihanna’s “Anti” may never sell 250,000 copies. It’s going to come in at number 10 this week in its third week. Kanye is a bigger mess, with “The Life of Pablo” a sales mystery at this point.
Something tells me Beyonce is too chart oriented to let even Jay Z destroy her chances of being Number 1 with a bullet. So hold on. The summer of Beyonce is upon us.
Cyndi Lauper is going country! And guess who’s producing? Seymour Stein, founder of Sire Records, curator of the Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders and dozens of other influential groups. Seymour is one of the GREAT music men of rock history. This is a big big deal and I can’t wait to hear how the album, called “Detour,” sounds. This will be a HIT. Special duets include Emmylou Harris, Jewel, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, and Willie Nelson.
Cyndi is a musical genius, I think. Forget “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” or “True Colors” or “Time After Time.” Her Tony award winning musical, “Kinky Boots,” is still a hit on Broadway. Check out her blues album, “Memphis Blues,” featuring my favorite take on “Mother Earth.” She can do anything! And now she’s got Seymour Stein. Real music still lives!
The album is out on May 6th:
DETOUR Track Listing:
“Funnel Of Love”
“Detour” – Featuring Emmylou Harris
“Misty Blue”
“Walkin’ After Midnight”
“Heartaches By The Number”
“The End Of The World”
“Night Life” – Featuring Willie Nelson
“Begging To You”
“You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly” – Featuring Vince Gill
“I Fall To Pieces”
“I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart” – Featuring Jewel
“Hard Candy Christmas” – Featuring Alison Krauss
Kanye West doesn’t write his own songs. He samples old hits to make new records. His audience is too young to know the difference.
On his not very good album “The Life of Pablo,” the final track– “Fade”– is composed of two old hits. The instrumental part comes Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers’ 1985 hit “Mystery of Love.” The vocal is from Rare Earth’s 1970 hit “I Know I’m Losing You.”
For all of Kanye’s ranting about black or white music, I wonder if he knows that Rare Earth was Motown’s only white group during their heyday. Rod Richards was their lead singer, and it’s voice you hear on “Fade.” Funny, no? This is what we call irony.
Mystery of Love by Mr. Fingers:
Fade by Kanye:
I’m Losing You by Rare Earth
I just found this video of Carly Simon’s surprise appearance at Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy dinner this past Sunday night. All you young girl singers, this is what it’s all about.
This was shot on a Panasonic Lumix TZ40. Not bad.
Here’s a little intel on Adele and her botched performance of “All I Ask.”
Exclusively, I can tell you she was not supposed to sing “All I Ask.” That may have been one reason why the whole piano-microphone thing was so botched.
My sources tell me she was scheduled to sing “When We Were Young.” It’s a much better song, and it’s her single of the moment that Sony was trying to promote. She’s sung it a few times recently.
So what happened? “She decided she wanted to do something stark that would stand out,” says my insider. So “All I Ask” was hastily put together. The rest, as we know, is history and burgers. My source insists it was a technical glitch that made Adele sound so horrid. But I say — and so do others in the Staples Center– it was just human error. Adele couldn’t hear what was going on, and followed the piano into a hole.
It happens. Or as Adele put it so well, “Shit happens.”
Things didn’t go well on stage for Adele and she consoled herself with burgers.
But this morning she can also console herself with this news: her “25” album is back at number 1 on iTunes. And three of her singles including “All I Ask”– the song that was botched on the show– are in the top 15.
On the iTunes album chart, all of the top 10 is by performers who appeared on the Grammy show– including Andra Day, Alabama Shakes, and the “Hamilton” soundtrack. “Hamilton” is in the top 10. Wonderful.
Who didn’t get a bounce? Justin Bieber. His lackluster performance on the show sends his “Purpose” album down to number 17. Sorry!
My new fave singers from the weekend: Tori Kelly and Elle King. I wish the public could have heard Tori a the Musicares dinner. She has an earthy voice, and should be singing more R&B.
Sony Music– which had no nominations for Album of the Year and very little else– really needed Adele to make it to their party at the swanky Hotel Bel Air.
But Adele was “pissed,” according to my spies, after her performance of “All I Ask” went awry on the Grammy show. She left the Staples Center in a huff and headed to In-and-Out Burger.
My insiders at the Sony party (where celebs were confined to mostly John Legend and Tony Bennett) say she never arrived. There are no photos of her.
Neil Portnow, head of NARAS, is graciously taking responsibility for Adele’s flat performance on the show saying it was a technical glitch. He may be right. We certainly couldn’t see Adele in the auditorium because of the blinding light cast into the audience from backstage. But also it may have been that she is simply human. Also, that song — “All I Ask” — is terrible, was a poor choice.
Meanwhile, Beyonce was also absent from the Sony party after her very late arrival at the Grammys caused the last two awards presentations to be reversed so she could be the final presenter.
What a crazy night- Pierre Cossette would never have tolerated any of this stuff.