Innholdsfortegnelse for February 28, 2015 i Billboard Magazine

TAYLOR SWIFT MAKES a fashionable entrance into a familiar place — the top 10 — with “Style,” the third single from her album 1989. Following the Feb. 13 arrival of its official video, the synth-heavy, new wave-inspired track blasts 18-10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and enters the Streaming Songs chart at No. 37 with 3.7 million streams, according to Nielsen Music, with nearly all its streaming activity from Vevo on YouTube clicks for the clip. “Style” also surges by 25 percent to 115,000 downloads sold in the week ending Feb. 15 and bounds by 24 percent to 85 million in radio audience. The song becomes Swift’s 17th Hot 100 top 10 hit, tying her with Aretha Franklin for sixth place among women with the most top 10 titles in…

1 DUBSET 440 Ninth Ave. Staff size 6 Move-in date 2013 (company launched in 2009) Funding raised Undisclosed Investor Rhapsody Mission statement Identifies samples and distributes royalties to rights holders 2 NEXT BIG SOUND 133 W. 19th St. Staff size 22 Move-in date 2012 (company launched in 2010) Funding raised $7.5 million Investors Foundry Group, IA Ventures, TechStars; The Orchard’s Brad Navin is on the board of directors Mission statement Analyzes artists’ popularity through listener activity on social media, streaming services and radio 3 FEATURE.FM 19 W. 21st St. Staff size 8 Move-in date 2013 Funding raised Undisclosed Investors Undisclosed Mission statement A song promotion platform through which artists can place songs as ads within streaming services 4 PLEDGEMUSIC 134 Fifth Ave. Staff size 16 Move-in date 2014 (company launched…

Former Jive/Zomba CEO Barry Weiss will partner with Songs Music Publishing to launch a new record label, sources tell Billboard. Weiss, 56, and Songs founder/CEO Matt Pincus and president Ron Perry have negotiated nearly all terms of the deal, and a signing could be imminent. The label is said to be in talks with potential distributors including Sony Music Entertainment. The plan is for the company, the name of which has not been disclosed, to start small with a dozen staffers and leverage the label services of its distributor, sources say, adding that Weiss had been seeking a more ambitious launch, but scaled down after he began talks with Songs. Weiss and Songs executives were unavailable for comment. Weiss joined Jive/Zomba in 1982 and helped founder Clive Calder build the…

Ten years after Denny Tedesco shot the first frames of The Wrecking Crew, his film about the legendary group of 1960s Los Angeles session musicians who played on everything from Phil Spector classics and “Good Vibrations” to toothpaste jingles, he hit the point of no return. The film had to be completed. “[Director] John Sayles said there is a line you cross,” says Tedesco, 53, whose long-awaited documentary finally opens theatrically on March 13. “That line was drawn in 2006: My wife said, ‘We’ve made the most expensive home movie ever.’ I finally had to get an editor to make a film out of it.” The movie, which started in 1996 with a roundtable conversation featuring his father, guitarist Tommy Tedesco (who died in 1997); bassist Carol Kaye; drummer Hal…

Gaga’s Mile-High MakeupAll the world’s a stage for Lady Gaga — and so is a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet. On Feb. 12, the newly engaged pop star made herself at home in the business-class Mint section of a JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to New York. A fellow traveler tells Overheard that Gaga’s adorable black French bulldog Asia, adorned in what looked like a diamond necklace, visited passengers in nearby rows while two men stood guard near Gaga for the entire flight. Then, about 30 minutes before landing, a team of makeup and wardrobe personnel approached to primp the artist for reentry. “There were wigs flying around,” says the source, adding that one “landed on a passenger’s lap.” Gerson’s GuyThere’s a new power couple in Hollywood. Newly minted Universal…

THE TITLE OF KIM GORDON’S strikingly confessional new memoir, Girl in a Band (Feb. 24, Dey St./HarperCollins), is a simplification. Yes, the book covers her role as co-founder, singer and bassist of New York post-punk pioneers Sonic Youth, one of indie rock’s most revered acts. But it also focuses heavily on the rise and fall of her storybook downtown-bohemian marriage to her bandmate Thurston Moore. The pair, who married in 1984 and have a 21-year-old daughter, shocked fans in 2011 when they announced their split. It was later revealed Moore had been having an affair with Eva Prinz, a book editor he had worked with for years. But Moore isn’t the only target: In between sharing stories about growing up with a schizophrenic brother, beating breast cancer and her unheralded…

in the spring of 1952 during a break from his job as a movie theater usher, 17-yearold Elvis Presley stared into the window of Lansky Brothers — the menswear boutique on Memphis’ Beale Street known for its unconventionally colorful designs that catered to the blues and hipster scene. Store owner Bernard Lansky invited him in and offered to dress the youngster, who responded: “I ain’t got nothing. But when I save up some money, I’m going to come in here and buy you out.” Hyperbole aside, the blue-eyed crooner remained a loyal customer for life — building his wardrobe for the next 25 years, first with a custom pink coat for his high school prom and later a plaid sports jacket for his appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Though…

ANDY SAMBERG ALWAYS wanted to be a stand-up comedian. But it wasn’t until 2000, when the New York University graduate moved to Los Angeles with friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, that he started writing musical comedy. “We would come home after going out for drinks, start screwing around and making jokey songs,” recalls Samberg. Those late-night jams would be the basis for their group The Lonely Island, the novelty-rap trio that ultimately led to Samberg’s Saturday Night Live role, three studio albums and the viral phenomenon “Dick in a Box” with Justin Timberlake. Today, Samberg, 36, is married to indie-folk harpist Joanna Newsom (also something of a double threat after appearing in 2014 film Inherent Vice). Last summer, he won a Golden Globe for his role as Jake Peralta…

BEFORE CARRIE Brownstein was the Emmy-nominated writer and star of IFC TV series Portlandia, she was a singer-guitarist in beloved feminist-rock band Sleater-Kinney, formed in 1994. But when the trio went on hiatus in 2006, she ventured into new territory, sketching comedy bits with fellow actor-musician Fred Armisen that paved the road to Portlandia’s biting, bizarro satire (just renewed for its sixth and seventh seasons). Brownstein, 40, has since landed roles in Amazon’s Golden Globe winner Transparent and Todd Haynes’ upcoming film, Carol. And now that a reunited Sleater-Kinney is touring behind new LP No Cities to Love (released in January), Portlandia’s bigger fan base — “construction workers, police officers, farmers,” says Brownstein — is discovering that a really sick guitarist has been hiding in plain sight. TV FANS VS.…

RITA ORA’S ACTING DEBUT MAY just be four lines long but it’s quite a launch pad: As Christian Grey’s sister in Fifty Shades of Grey, the 24-year-old’s cameo was seen by millions (generating $94.4 million in first-weekend box office, according to Box Office Mojo). “Make sure you don’t blink or you’ll miss me,” she jokes. That exposure precedes the Brit’s debut U.S. album and another role, a meatier part as a drug-addicted mother alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the gritty boxing drama Southpaw. She also is performing at the Academy Awards, where her recording of Diane Warren’s “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights is up for best original song. Classically trained (at London’s Sylvia Young Theatre School) and with model-worthy looks (she’s the face of Roberto Cavalli), Ora is finally ready for…

I GIVE 100 PERCENT, WHETHER it’s singing or acting,” says Jennifer Hudson. “I hope I never have to choose between the two.” Fortunately, it’s doubtful she’ll ever have to: After a stint as an American Idol finalist in 2004, the Chicago native’s biggest asset — her canyon-size voice — helped her leap onto the big screen. In her debut film role, as singer Effie White in 2006’s Dreamgirls, she stole the spotlight from fellow double threats Beyoncé and Jamie Foxx and nabbed an Oscar for best supporting actress. Now, after three albums (including last year’s JHUD), more big-screen gets (Sex and the City, The Secret Life of Bees), a new single with Iggy Azalea (“Trouble” ) and a recent appearance on hit Fox show Empire, Hudson, 33, ventures into new…

4/5 PRODUCERS Kid Rock, Dann Huff LABEL Warner Bros. RELEASE DATE Feb. 24 ON HIS 10TH STUDIO effort Kid Rock is, to borrow the title of his annual sea cruise, chillin’ the most. His first album since departing longtime label Atlantic for Warner Bros., First Kiss is hardly his most adventurous project, but it is perhaps his most easygoing, tuneful one. The production is crisp and clean, the guitars are sparkling, the vibe is rollicking but relaxed. And surprisingly, kicking back suits Rock: He sounds better here than he has in a long time. This is the self-proclaimed Bullgod proudly showing off his blue-collar, everyman side. He indulges his “red-blooded white-boy blues” on “Ain’t Enough Whiskey” and warmly reminisces about his first crush on the pop-rocking title track. Bump-and-grind rave-up…

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE “WHAT KIND OF MAN” REPUBLIC 4/5 Florence Welch usually fluctuates between indie-pop siren and art-rock weirdo, but on this head-spinning ambient-R&B single, she’s both. “With one kiss, you inspired a fire of devotion,” she sings, proving few singers do widescreen melodrama better. —RYAN REED ALABAMA SHAKES “DON’T WANNA FIGHT” ATO RECORDS 4/5 Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard makes raw pain feel sensual, and “Don’t Wanna Fight” is their sauciest offering yet. “Why can’t I catch my breath? I’m gonna work myself to death,” she bellows over reverbed guitar, which evokes dusty, Daptone-school retrofunk rather than the band’s usual Dixie rock. —DAN HYMAN CHARLIE PUTH FEATURING MEGHAN TRAINOR “MARVIN GAYE” ATLANTIC 2/5 Charlie Puth plays a game of “spot the Marvin reference” on his debut single, repackaging lines…

Jussie Smollett (above), who plays Jamal Lyon on Fox’s new music-biz serial Empire, enters the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 76. All of his chart points stem from digital song sales, led by the single “Keep Your Money,” which becomes the series cast’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it debuts at No. 99. (The track is credited to Empire Cast featuring Jussie Smollett.) With 27,000 downloads sold in the week ending Feb. 15, according to Nielsen Music, the tune also rises 34-32 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, marking the cast’s best rank among four charted titles on the tally. (Fun fact: Smollett, 31, had a role, as a preteen, in the 1992 hit film The Mighty Ducks.) Atop the Artist 100, Drake rockets 21-1 (up 850 percent in…

CHRIS MARTIN HAS SPENT THE last 15 years as the frontman of Coldplay, the most successful British rock band of the millennium with 18.2 million albums and 33.6 million song downloads sold in the United States (according to Nielsen Music). But the group’s future is uncertain after the planned release of its final (for now, anyway) album A Head Full of Dreams on Parlophone/Atlantic later in the year, and a stadium tour tentatively set for summer 2016, Billboard has learned. Still, Martin has a plan for his next 15 years: to become the next Bono. “Everything I do is a Bono move — surely that’s clear after 15 years,” Martin says with a self-effacing chuckle. “But I’m not going to start wearing shades.” Beginning in September, Martin will become curator…

Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” was the publishing industry’s undisputed champ in 2014’s fourth quarter: The song helped lead Sony/ATV (which reps Swift) to its 10th consecutive leading quarter and Kobalt Music Group (home to co-writers Max Martin — the quarter’s top songsmith — and Johan “Shellback” Schuster) to hold steady at a solid No. 2. However, Sony/ATV’s market share dropped to 26.2 percent from a thirdquarter 31.2 percent. (The company also topped the country list with a 22.8 percent share, down from 26.9 percent.) Other big moves came from Big Machine and Reach Music, both of which hit the top 10 for the first time, powered by Maddie & Tae’ “Girl in a Country Song” and Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap,” respectively.…

YOU WON’T FIND ANY corner offices in Capitol Music Group’s Los Angeles headquarters, but at the top of the iconic circular tower sits a sharp chief executive. Chairman/CEO Steve Barnett, 62, has only logged two years on the job, following a 15-year stint at Sony Music, but his impact on the music business — and certainly Universal Music Group — has been felt globally thanks to out-the-gate successes by Sam Smith and Bastille; critically acclaimed revivals by Ryan Adams, Beck and Mary J. Blige; and, most recently, winning an impressive 13 Grammy Awards, including honors in all four major categories (three for Smith; Beck’s Morning Phase won best album). To hear Barnett tell it, the road to industry respect was methodical and involved significant risk. Resuscitating Capitol, which was the…

IT WAS THE WEEK OF KANYE. THE RAPPER kicked off the fall/winter 2015 season by debuting his $350 pair of haute couture street shoes, the “Yeezy Boost,” at his Kanye West x Adidas show on Feb. 12. Beyoncé, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Spike Jonze sat front row alongside West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, and 1-year-old daughter North West, who made headlines with an age-appropriate tantrum. Hours later, West performed at the first Roc City Classic in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, featuring appearances by Travis Scott and Pusha T. “New York City, remember the night when you all saw me perform. Remember that anything is possible. I love you,” West yelled to the crowd of 10,000 who stood in 12 degree temps to catch the hourlong show. Yeezy went on to hit…

Gwen Stefani “The cloud — it’s so expressive of what I’m feeling right now.” Aloe Blacc “Just to let my wife know I’m thinking about her.” Iggy Azalea “Because I want to blow my brains out all the time when I’m texting. Like, ‘Ug, kill me.’ ” Diplo “The eggplant one — it’s code for stuff.” Charli XCX “I have so many but this is top. It’s underrated and really tropical. It brings happiness into my life!” Maddie Tarlow (Maddie & Tae) “He just looks so funny. If I’m texting Tae and I’m like, ‘I ate all the chocolate,’ I’ll put that little dude.” Katy Perry “When I want to see my niece Stella I just send that to my sister — ‘Shoot me up with that child!’ ” B.o.B…

“In black culture ... if you hang around somebody, you’re smashing them. White culture, it’s genuine, it’s different.” —TYGA The 26-year-old rapper, denying rumors that he’s dating 17-year-old Kylie Jenner. “I have sources from the government. I’ve had my phone tapped.” —TOM DELONGE The Blink-182 singer to Paper, discussing his investigations of UFOs, Area 51 and government coverups. “I’m sorry ... I’m not always right, I’m not always on time, I don’t always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always ... pure.” —KANYE WEST The rapper-cum-designer, in an interview with Style.com. “Maybe you’re right ... I’m just too old to get it.” —ERYKAH BADU The R&B singer, responding to rapper Azealia Banks on Twitter, who took offense after Badu wrote to a fan that she “tried”…

DO YOU MIND IF I EAT A LITTLE?” JARED LETO ASKS. “I’M TRYING to gain a lot of weight. It means I have to eat every couple of hours — and I’m terrible at eating a lot.” Leto, 43, is sitting on a battered circular couch in a cavernous white room on the ground floor of his Hollywood Hills home. A takeout container filled with vegan tacos sits before him. Leto’s accessorized with red-and-purple socks, a woolly ski hat and a red fanny pack, for a look that is more Phish parking lot than red carpet. His beard and hair extend to Old Testament length. Leto’s packing on the pounds because he has been cast as the Joker in the all-star comic-book supervillain movie Suicide Squad, which starts filming in…

COMMON DOESN’T HAVE any theories as to why Selma, the praised Martin Luther King Jr. biopic he stars in, earned only two Oscar noms: best picture and best original song, for “Glory,” his Golden Globe-winning duet with John Legend. (They’ll perform it at the Academy Awards on Feb. 22.) “All I know is that we made something that impacted the world,” says the Chicago-born rapper-actor. Selma would seem like a natural fit for Common, 42, known for thoughtfully tackling race and injustice throughout his 20-year-plus music catalog, including 2014’s Grammy-nominated Nobody’s Smiling. But since taking on acting a decade ago, Lonnie Rashid Lynn has landed in bang-’em-up action flicks (Run All Night, out March 13), frothy romcoms (Just Wright) and even TV westerns (AMC’s Hell on Wheels). In the wake…

FOR CHRISTOPHER “LUDACRIS” Bridges, all it took to crack Hollywood was a quick audition tape shot backstage while on tour with Eminem. Director John Singleton, known for plucking talent from hip-hop for films like Poetic Justice and Boyz N the Hood, gave him a shot for 2002’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, the second installment of what would become a billion-dollar franchise. Since then, Ludacris, 37, has excelled in both fields: As a rapper, he has released eight studio LPs and broadened his acting range to include comedies (New Year’s Eve) and Oscar-winning dramas (Crash). This year, with his ninth album, Ludaversal, out March 31 (days before his latest film, Furious 7, opens on April 3), Luda is playing both sides of the fence better than ever. EXPRESSING YOURSELF “All rappers…

ANNA KENDRICK WILL BE THE first to tell you she’s not really a musician; she just plays one on the big screen. Her humility belies the mezzo-soprano belt that drove the actress’ cover of “Cups” from Pitch Perfect, the 2012 hit movie about a cappella competitions, to No. 6 on the Hot 100. That success has helped anoint the 29-year-old this generation’s Julie Andrews — the go-to belle for every female musical lead, including in Pitch Perfect 2 (out May 15), The Last 5 Years and Into the Woods (both out now). Off -camera, she’s not far removed from her theatrical persona: the acerbic underdog, constantly downplaying her talents — on the musical side, at least: “ It’s so striking that I am an amateur among pros.” HER FIRST LOVE…

COULD ANYONE DESIGN A BAND more impervious to criticism than Imagine Dragons? Formed at Utah’s Brigham Young University before dropping out to become Las Vegas, and then global, sweethearts, the group combines heartland earnestness with showbiz sheen at such a shameless pitch it’s almost innovative. Their sound is a ruthlessly competent concoction of styles: Coldplay-replay mellow melodies, Mumford-y hey-hos, EDM-inflected bass or beats, guitars courtesy of U2, filtered through altrock precursors such as Vegas’s own Killers. Finally, add some novelty effects — whistling, mandolins, anything — and wallops on Arcade Fire floor drums whenever they need to refocus the listener’s attention (which is often). The band’s name sums up its ethos — declaring a stout belief in creative vision, but applying it to a stock “epic” image, as if to…

PRODUCER Frequency LABEL Photo Finish/Republic Records RELEASE DATE Feb. 24 WITH HOLLYWOOD ALREADY GOING full comic book, music might as well follow suit. Audiences are primed for explosive, larger-than-life content. Why not give them what they want? MisterWives are embracing this strategy, and it’s working. The New York-based five-piece — led by the operatically inclined, Queens-born songwriting powerhouse Mandy Lee Duffy, who either wrote or co-wrote all of these tunes — has released a debut whose panels are bursting with rock ’em, sock ’em action. It’s the poprock answer to Iron Man we didn’t know we needed. Teaming improbably with producer Frequency, known for his work with Eminem, MisterWives borrow EDM’s bombast and wed it to randy ska, agile funk and sugary R&B. “Our Own House” begins like a Calvin…

FAR FROM A ‘NOBODY’ After turning 5 Seconds of Summer and Sam Smith into superstars in 2014, Capitol reaps rewards with its first notable newcomer of 2015, as Tori Kelly’s “Nobody Love,” co-written by Max Martin, enters Mainstream Top 40 at No. 33. The 22-year-old, managed by Scooter Braun, has been a YouTube star since 2007 (when she was 16) and boasts 1.1 million subscribers to her official account. WATERLOO REVIVAL RISES Austin-based Waterloo Revival makes its Billboard chart debut with the banjo-heavy “Hit the Road” (Big Machine), which bows on Country Airplay at No. 60. Fronted by George Birge, the quartet, which also includes Cody Cooper, Matt Wiley and Ken Tondre, used Kickstarter to fund an EP two years ago and showcased it for Big Machine executives, who signed…

“IT WAS SUCH A GREAT GROOVE, EVEN IN THE DEMO,” says Sheena Easton, now 55, of her double-entendreladen hit “Sugar Walls.” The Scottish singer, who resides near Las Vegas, says she didn’t “think about image” when recording the sultry drum- and keyboard-driven cut, which was written by Prince. “I was just focused on the music.” With lyrics that included “come spend the night inside my sugar walls,” the song, released in 1984, was a far cry from Easton’s comparably innocent 1981 debut, the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Morning Train (Nine to Five).” But audiences didn’t mind her stylistic shift: “Sugar Walls” became her sixth top 10 Hot 100 hit and her first No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart on Feb. 23, 1985. A few months later, the…

ON FEB. 17, VAN TOFFLER, a 28-year MTV veteran and key booker of the Video Music Awards, announced he is stepping down in April as head of Viacom’s Music and Logo Group to launch Below the Radar, his own content company. Two days later, MTV/Comedy Central vet Doug Herzog, 55, was named head of the newly formed Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, overseeing MTV, MTV2, Logo, VH1, Comedy Central, Spike and their accompanying digital properties. Nickelodeon’s Cyma Zarghami, 52, takes on a similar role for the Kids and Family Group. On Feb. 18, Viacom’s stock was down 19.2 percent from the same date in 2014. Toffler, 56, who joined MTV in 1987, is the last departure of the original team of top executives that shaped the network’s music identity, including…

FORMER AEG LIVE CEO Randy Phillips has been named CEO of Global Entertainment, the newly launched U.S. division of London-based media and entertainment group Global. The division, based in Los Angeles, will contain touring, label, publishing, artist management, branding/sponsorships and marketing departments. Touting a “real 360 content creation company,” Phillips says, “I believe in three to five years, all major labels will look like Global.” Global is the United Kingdom’s largest commercial radio company, a base that founder Ashley Tabor used to expand into other fields. While no plans have been announced, it appears the firm is positioned to compete — or partner — with Live Nation and AEG as a tour producer and promoter on a global level; sources say several projects are in the works. Phillips, 59, declined…

The Business of Music in TV & Film BAZ LUHRMANN, WHOSE FILMS HAVE SPAWNED SOME OF THE top-selling soundtrack albums of the past 15 years, is getting into the record business. The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge! director is partnering with Sony Music’s RCA Records on a custom label, Bazmark, to release music from Luhrmann’s film, TV and theater projects, as well as sign new artists and acquire rights to recordings. “My current work is all music-driven, and all of it requires classics or new music artists,” says Luhrmann, 52, whose stage version of Strictly Ballroom opened in his native Australia on Jan. 17. “I’m going to try to build a home that has a great foundation, and I hope it has longevity. I would feel useful if just one…

IN THE DARK BASEMENT DINING ROOM at TaiPan Fusion, a Chinese restaurant located near the Long Island Expressway in Queens, Ariyan Arslani, the 31-year-old rapper known as Action Bronson, pauses mid-sentence, wrinkles his nose and wiggles his legs uncomfortably in his red leather seat. “Excuse me,” he says, raising his tattooed hand to his face and fanning the air away. “That... really stinks.” Yes, Action Bronson, rapper, former professional cook and online TV personality, just farted. Maybe it’s TaiPan’s food: chicken with honey and chilis, Szechuan chicken and fried rice, among other delicacies. Or maybe it’s just by design. Bronson, whose major-label debut, Mr. Wonderful, is due for release on March 24 through Vice/Atlantic Records, has spent the past few years revealing his eccentricities on mixtapes, EPs, independent albums and…

FROM A YOUNG AGE, ELLE KING KNEW she wanted to be a “badass bitch.” And now, she says, her wish is coming true: On her sassy debut, Love Stuff (Feb. 17, RCA), the Brooklyn-based blues-pop singer, 25, lets her raspy, Adele-esque wail loose, drowning fears with booze (“Last Damn Night”) and disposing of a fling (“I Told You I Was Mean”). It’s not what you’d expect from the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and former model London King, but it works. These are just some of the reasons why. 1. DAD’S COATTAILS? NO THANKS “I was born out of a Vegas marriage: My parents got married three days after they met,” says King. They divorced shortly after she was born. “Soon as I was 18, I took on my mom’s…

Country-pop singer Haley Georgia knows the value of first impressions. In the opening lines of her debut single, “Ridiculous,” a kiss-off to a fickle guy over a mandolinmeets-hip-hop beat, the 19-year-old plays a trick on the ear, repeating, “You’re ridic, you’re ridic, you’re ridiculous”; it bears a phonetic similarity to a much crasser comeback. But she knows exactly what she’s doing: bringing youthful, eye-rolling inflections and chopped-up rap cadences to Nashville with more wit and camp than most of her bro counterparts. It’s country in the key of Kesha. “My perspective on things is, ‘What’s going to set me apart?’ ” says Georgia, who counts Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey and Merle Haggard as influences. “I’ve always sort of had a skewed vision on love and people.” Obsessed with Taylor…

1927 JOLSON BREAKS THE SOUND BARRIER Both controversial and historic, The Jazz Singer is remembered as much for its star, Al Jolson, performing in blackface as it is for being the first “talkie.” Though blackface’s legacy remains understandably controversial, Jolson popularized sounds like jazz and blues among white audiences of his era. 1944 BING MEETS OSCAR Bing Crosby’s Academy Award for best actor in the musical Going My Way fills out an inventory of accolades that includes three Guinness World Records, three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the first Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 1954 SINATRA IS ETERNAL Pegged as a bobby-soxer idol, Frank Sinatra saw his career stall as he entered adulthood. His best supporting actor win for From Here to Eternity changed all that. 1956 ELVIS…

JACK BLACK’S TWIN talents have always been in lock step. After appearing on acclaimed late-’90s HBO sketch series Mr. Show, Black scored a spinoff miniseries for his then-budding spoof-rock band, Tenacious D. His hilarious frontman theatricality landed him the perfect breakout role, as a Marvin Gaye-singing recordstore employee in 2000’s High Fidelity, and the rest is equal parts rock and comedy history. This year, Tenacious D nabbed the Grammy Award for best metal performance, a mere two weeks after his new movie, The D Train, in which he’s a star and producer, sold at the Sundance Film Festival. Not bad for a 45-year-old whose résumé ranges from X-rated songs like “F— Her Gently” to the most family-friendly of roles, Kung Fu Panda’s lovable lead Po. ACTING IS LIKE ‘A REAL…

ICE CUBE’S CLASSIC RAP songs, whether solo or with pioneering gangsta rap crew N.W.A., are as cinematic as any film. In 1986, he wrote Eazy-E’s hit “Boyz N the Hood,” which later supplied the title and subtext for John Singleton’s Oscar-nominated 1991 saga, which also featured Cube’s first acting role. O’ Shea Jackson, 44, later sneered his way to stardom in comedies (21 Jump Street) and dramas (Three Kings), but he also added writing and producing to his résumé, with film franchises Friday and Barbershop. His latest project as producer, the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, takes him back to his roots, documenting the revolutionary rise of the world’s most dangerous rap group. DIVISION OF LABOR “It was hard earlier in my career, so I decided not to balance [films…

HIP-HOP STARS HAVE long beat a path to Hollywood, from Ice Cube to Ice-T and even Vanilla Ice (what, you never saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?). Donald Glover, however, may be the only star to make the trip in reverse. In 2009, after three years writing for 30 Rock, Glover broke out as an actor on cult- favorite sitcom Community. But off-set, he began living an unlikely double life as rapper Childish Gambino, going from mixtape curiosity to Glassnote signee with two Grammy nods for 2013’s Because the Internet — which was, fittingly, accompanied by a short film and a screenplay. “I don’t separate things,” the 31-yearold explains. “All my ideas bleed into each other.” After he quit Community in 2013, Glover’s life has…

4/5 PRODUCER Frank Dukes LABEL Lex Records RELEASE DATE Feb. 24 Ghostface Killah’s full-length collaborative album with jazz troupe BadBadNotGood isn’t your standard wine-and-cheese affair. On the impressive Sour Soul, the Canadian trio that built its profile through Odd Future and Gucci Mane covers bangs out rich blaxploitation-invoking live instrumentals, providing a perfect canvas for the Wu-Tang Clan vet’s vivid rhymes about dodging police, jewelry and, oddly enough, yoga. But it makes sense: As an aging rap sage, Ghost, 44, boldly confronts mortality and maturity and balances them with his signature street grit and goofiness. Fresh off 2014’s superhero concept LP 36 Seasons, Ghost continues pandering to Marvel geeks with the rousing “Ray Gun,” a DOOM-featured stream-of-consciousness speckled with comic motifs. Yet thug motivation pervades throughout the LP, and old…

HITS MILEY CYRUS, SNL 40 SPECIAL (FEB. 14) Cyrus showed off her range (instead of her tongue) with a nuanced performance of Paul Simon’s 1975 hit “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” that progressed from a sexy growl to a torchy climax. She finished with a Karate Kid crane kick that said, “I nailed it.” THE BOTS, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS (FEB. 9) Babyfaced brothers Mikaiah Lei, 21 (guitar), and Anaiah Lei, 17 (drums), from Glendale, Calif., aced their TV debut with a raw performance of their single “Blinded” that evoked The Black Keys and Jimi Hendrix. They get extra points for rocking the blues while dressed in pink — a nod to their latest album, Pink Palms. SHEPPARD, THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON (FEB. 9) This Aussie…

THE SURPRISE RELEASE OF DRAKE’S NEW ALBUM, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, is the closest the music biz has come to properly “pulling a Beyoncé” since the diva herself put out her sneak-attack self- titled album in December 2013. The hip-hop star’s new effort arrived without warning exclusively at digital retailers on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 12 and debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 535,000 copies sold in the week ending Feb. 15, according to Nielsen Music. Pure album sales make up 495,000 units of that figure — the second-largest sales week of the past year (behind only Taylor Swift’s arrival with 1.3 million copies sold of 1989). Drake’s start is even more remarkable considering the set arrived without any notice, was a digital-only…