Innholdsfortegnelse for Jan-17-15 i Billboard Magazine

MARK RONSON’S retro-R&B jam “Uptown Funk!,” featuring Bruno Mars, rises 2-1 to crown the Billboard Hot 100. The ascent gives Ronson his first Hot 100 No. 1 as an artist, and Mars — who is no stranger to the top spot — his sixth. Ronson previously made his mark mostly as a writer and producer, helming Amy Winehouse’s No. 9-peaking “Rehab” in 2007, co-producing Mars’ 2012-2013 leader “Locked Out of Heaven” and co-writing Christina Aguilera’s “Hurt” (No. 19, 2006). “Funk!,” which precedes Ronson’s Uptown Special (Jan. 13), reaches the top with the majority (65 percent) of its chart activity from sales, rebounding 2-1 for a second week atop Digital Songs via 382,000 downloads sold in the week ending Jan. 4, according to Nielsen Music. As “Funk!” reaches the apex, men…

Warner Bros. Records is staking its claim in the EDM world by signing one of the genre’s biggest players: Kaskade. After releasing eight albums on independents like Om and Ultra, the 43-year-old DJ (real name: Ryan Raddon) inked a twoalbum deal with the company in what seems an admission that the surest path to stardom is majorlabel muscle. (Financial terms have not been disclosed.) The decision came down to reach. Says Kaskade: “A lot of majors look at electronic musicians as producers first, and say, ‘We’ve got these topline writers and this act we’re trying to break...’ It seems very formulaic. I don’t need the factory behind me. I just need help getting my music heard .” For its part, Warner is taking an ambitious step into EDM’s competitive, and…

ABC’S LATEST STAB AT A musical series, Galavant — a sometimes bawdy medieval tale that tips its cap to Monty Python’s Spamalot! but with even funnier songs — opened to solid ratings, pulling in 7.9 million viewers with its fi rst half-hour episode on Jan. 4 and 6.8 million in its second, according to Nielsen. Now, the goal is getting viewers to embrace the tunes of Alan Menken, 65, and Glen Slater, 46, which soundtrack the show’s eight episodes airing over four weeks. Like the original music on ABC’s Nashville, Fox’s Empire and the two-season run of NBC’s Smash, Galavant will have songs from each episode released around the initial airing. Three tracks also were made available prior to the show’s premiere along with accompanying lyric videos; a soundtrack of…

DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE NEW YORK , DEC. 31 “PEOPLE SAY YOU’D HAVE to be crazy to stand outside for this, but it’s a career highlight,” Jenny McCarthy told Billboard of braving 26-degree weather to co-host the 43rd annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, which rang in 2015 with acts including Taylor Swift, Florida Georgia Line and Elton John. On the opposite coast, Charli XCX, One Direction and Iggy Azalea performed at Billboard’s Hollywood Party that aired as part of the ABC telecast, and was up 5 percent over 2013 with 9.6 million primetime viewers, according to Nielsen.…

Ansel Elgort may be famous for making hearts race in The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent (and being named one of GQ’s 2014 Men of the Year), but the actor’s skills go beyond film. Known to the EDM circuit as DJ-producer Ansolo, the 20-year-old New Yorker has played Electric Zoo, scaled the Beatport charts with debut single “Unite” in 2014 and released remixes through Swedish House Mafia alum Steven Angello’s Size Records. Elgort breaks down his musical side hustle. He knows not everyone will take him seriously as a musician — yet. “I’m going to battle with credibility my whole career as Ansolo, because people will just say I’m an actor trying to get into this. But I have no need to get into this. My acting is going…

I’M WEARING MY JAMMIES ’CAUSE MOMMY’S GOT A cold,” quips Courtney Love, holed up in New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel in Anna Sui silk pajamas and a sweater, sipping from an array of green juices that her latest collaborator, playwright-composer Todd Almond, has just brought her. Almond, 38, also brings her creative nourishment with the opera Kansas City Choir Boy, running Jan. 8-17 at New York’s Prototype: Opera/Theater/Now festival. Co-starring with Almond, the rock goddess transforms into a Greek goddess, Athena, in the piece, rising up from small-town environs to grab her destiny. At an intimate preview performance in December, attendee Michael Stipe was particularly touched, letting out an audible “F—!” as he wiped away a tear. (Love also has an upcoming role in the Fox series Empire.) At the…

THE NAME The Water Fountain THE FOUNDER Tune-Yards, the Oakland, Calif.-based, world-music-meets-alt-pop act led by Merrill Garbus. WHAT IT IS A fund that raises money to help support organizations dedicated to water issues — from pollution to drinking-water access — around the world. “I was having a lot of anxiety about water in my own community, where there has been a huge drought,” says Garbus, who launched the fund in December. “Water is going to be a big source of conflict in the world.” HOW IT WORKS Tune-Yards — which donated $15,000 to Haitian dance company Rara Tou Limen in 2014 — contributes $1 from every ticket sold on tour to the fund, along with fan donations and a portion of revenue from sales and licensing of 2014 LP Nikki…

S.W. Basics Toner Made with apple cider vinegar, witch hazel, clary, sage and sandalwood. It helps with breakouts and evening out skin tone. $22, swbasicsofbk.com Juniper Ridge Sierra Granite Trail Resin Cologne Based in the Pacific Northwest, the company uses harvested “masculine” ingredients like lichen and moss. $35, juniperridge.com Good Body Products Pine, Spruce & Lavender Aromatic Mist The perfect way to reinvigorate your home, skin or pillow without breathing in toxins. $14, goodbodyproducts.com Beautycounter Lustro Face Oil 1 Calendula A blend of essential oils like rosehip, sea buck thorn and argan oil, it’s a light and dry moisturizer for skin. $64, beautycounter.com Smith & Cult 5 Free Nail Polish in Dark Like Me This nail polish is made without the most toxic ingredients like formaldehyde and phthalates. $18, smithandcult.com…

AUL EPWORTH MAY VERY WELL HOLD all the secrets to 2015’s most anticipated album — Adele’s follow-up to 21 — but right now, on this late-December evening, the 40-year-old producer seems more eager to discuss how he has just put his two young children to bed at his North London fl at. “I’ve got nothing,” says the British songwriter/multi-instrumentalist at the mere mention of the 26-year-old singer’s name. “There are no clues.” He’s understandably circumspect about his involvement. Since 21 has sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen Music — netting Epworth four Grammys in the process — Adele has kept a low profi le, leaving only stray gossip (Phil Collins told Britain’s Q that she approached him to collaborate but then stopped…

SHAMIR BAILEY, A 20-YEAR-OLD SINGER from North Las Vegas, is already getting recognized in Brooklyn. “It’s no One Direction attention,” he says, laughing. “Especially in Williamsburg, I get noticed — it’s nerve-rattling.” In 2014, the Topshop employee was critically feted for his Northtown EP, an excellent underground-pop release that got him signed to infl uential indie XL. THIS WASN’T THE PLAN After his high school punk duo, Anorexia, broke up, Bailey randomly emailed demos to a small New York label, Godmode, whose interest kick-started everything else. “My goal was just to release a tape and have it fall into obscurity.” HE RAPS, SINGS AND PLAYS GUITAR “I’m not going to let anyone pigeonhole me into a genre,” says Bailey. No problem: On his debut full-length, out this spring, there’s a…

POP-COUNTRY’S SPRING-BREAK set got its truck bed rattled in 2014 by a poetically perfect pair: Texas’ Madison Marlow and Oklahoma’s Taylor Dye, both 19. Their bro-countrysassing “Girl in a Country Song” not only ribs the likes of Luke Bryan, but it’s the second debut single by a female duo ever to notch a No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. A spring album that’s due on Big Machine’s Dot label means there’s more wit and grit where lines like “I hate the way this bikini top chafes” came from. ‘I AIN’T YOUR TAN-LEGGED JULIET’ “For so long, we country fans have only heard the guy’s perspective, and the woman is never given a character,” explains Maddie about their hit. “This song started as a joke, but when we really dove…

LAST MAY ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, ANDY SAMBERG portrayed “Davvincii,” a DJ caricature who fried an egg, played Jenga and swiped credit cards while waiting to drop the bass. Onstage at Coachella, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler shouted out “bands still playing actual instruments.” On YouTube, a video mocking Steve Aoki live (“Don’t mind me, bros! I’m just touching some stuff here”) went viral. If 2014 was the year pop culture took a swing at button-pushing DJs, then 2015 will be the year electronic music transcends the laptop. “Build up, raise your hands, insert Lil Jon vocal drop and everyone starts jumping like pogo sticks,” says James Carpenter, a member of Chicago electronic trio Autograf. “We’re starting to see a reaction to that.” Electronic artists have long combined live vocalists and…

“Live-event organizers, especially major festivals, will more effectively line their pockets by leveraging innovative technology, like RFID bracelets, to capture invaluable attendee data they’ll share with savvy artists.” —PETER CSATHY, CEO OF MANATT DIGITAL MEDIA “In 2015, we will see music be more pervasive than ever. I see it when I go to kids’ birthday parties: ‘Let It Go’ is so undeniable that it became part of the fabric of the little-girl princess experience. Music is so pervasive that people who I am sure wouldn’t have heard my band otherwise come up to me and say they heard [a Fall Out Boy] song in a stadium when their team was playing. 2015 is our chance to be bold. —Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy “More ‘niche’ acts will emerge with…

AIRDATE Jan. 7 NETWORK Fox DIRECTOR Lee Daniels THERE ARE A LOT OF MOVING PARTS in the pilot of Fox’s vibrant, entertaining Empire, one of 2015’s most eagerly anticipated new shows. That the series does much more right than it does wrong out of the gate is encouraging, even if it’s always hard to gauge quality from a single episode. But there are many things to like in Empire — particularly the ambitious scope of the story that creators Lee Daniels (The Butler, The Paperboy, Precious) and Danny Strong (Game Change, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1) have mapped out, as well as the music, which is expertly overseen by Timbaland (acting as musical director and songwriter). The King Lear-infl uenced plot opens with over-the-top music-industry mogul Lucious Lyon…

“ONLY ONE” DEF JAM/G.O.O.D. MUSIC Instead of club-pandering on his new single, West kicks off 2015 with a testimonial. On “Only One,” featuring keys and co-writing from Sir Paul, he sings from his late mother’s perspective. The Auto-Tuned vocals lack, but the lyrics are touchingly vulnerable, especially after the abrasive Yeezus: “Next time when I look in your eyes, we’ll have wings and we’ll fl y.” —ERIKA RAMIREZ MARINA & THE DIAMONDS “IMMORTAL” NEON GOLD/ATLANTIC Gliding away from the chirpy electro-pop of “Oh No!” and “Primadonna,” Marina Diamandis uses the ghostly austerity of “Immortal” to fortify her position as a balladeer. The lyrics may be mawkish (“When you love somebody/They’ll always leave too soon”), but her vocals’ artful restraint signals real growth. —JASON LIPSHUTZ AMERIIE “MUSTANG” FEENIIX RISING ENTERTAINMENT Mostly…

THE SOUNDS OF HOLLYWOOD MONOPOLIZE the Top Album Sales chart’s top 10, as a whopping four soundtracks occupy the region (see page 62). That’s the most the top 10 has seen since Sept. 5, 1998. Guardians of the Galaxy fi res 6-2 (70,000 copies sold in the week ending Jan. 4, according to Nielsen Music, down 13 percent), while Into the Woods rises 14-3 (51,000; up 7 percent), Annie warbles 28-9 (30,000; down less than 1 percent), and the indefatigable Frozen slips 9-10 (29,000; down 55 percent). The last time four of the top 10 best-selling albums were soundtracks was a little more than 16 years ago, when Armageddon — The Album (No. 4), Dr. Dolittle — The Album (No. 7), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (No. 8) and…

ON DEC. 16, MADONNA WAS IN her New York apartment when she received word that more than a dozen unfinished demos for her forthcoming album had leaked. Her manager, Guy Oseary, was just returning to his Beverly Hills estate when he got the news. The album, Rebel Heart, was set for a late-April release, and thanks to a meticulous marketing plan and an inspired group of collaborators (including Diplo, Kanye West and Avicii), buzz was strong on the singer’s 13th studio full-length. But now, all bets were off. Madonna shot off a fiery post on her Instagram account lambasting the leak as “artistic rape,” Oseary got on the phone, and both sprung into action. “I don’t recall that phone coming off my ear from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m.,” he…

The music industry has been bracing for the moment when streaming offsets sales — and it arrived in 2014. In fact, this was the worst sales year since the advent of Nielsen Music in 1991, with declines across the board. Albums, increasingly splintered, dropped 11.2 percent to 257 million units from 289.4 million units in 2013, while track-equivalent albums (TEA, whereby 10 tracks equal one album) fell 12.5 percent to 110.2 million TEA units. Meanwhile, an SEA, or stream-equivalent album, was adjusted from 2,000 streams per album to 1,500 with an average payout of half-a-cent. Some 164 billion streams were logged in 2014, equaling 109 million SEA. Another bright spot: The fourth quarter was especially robust, with Universal’s Republic and Sony’s Columbia leading in market share. Also on the industrymeasurements…

How jazz pianist Jason Moran landed the score to Selma The ethos of jazz pianist Jason Moran hit home for Selma director Ava DuVernay. Highlighting his own work, Moran, 39, described an art project titled “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, Alabama” as a piece that “combines the rural and the urban.” DuVernay’s reaction: “She said, ‘That’s exactly it,’” he recalls. Selma, about the events leading up to Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark 1965 march for voting rights (opening nationally Jan. 9), is Moran’s first feature film score. What kind of visual references did you use? Ava sent me photographs they had taken during the shooting and from seeing those and some of the costumes and sets, I started writing things to narrow the possibilities. How much of that music ended…

IGGY AZALEA HAD FANS BEGGING FOR MORE AT THE People’s Choice Awards, hosted by Anna Faris and Allison Janney. The Aussie native put on a fi erce performance of her latest hit, “Beg for It,” taking center stage at the Nokia Theatre’s L.A. Live, where she also walked away with the favorite hip-hop artist honor. “This is an amazing way to start the year!” the rapper said while accepting her award. Favorite breakout artist nominee Fifth Harmony was among her many fans, with member Lauren Jauregui telling Billboard, “We love her music, she works hard, and she’s a girl. Girl power!” Taylor Swift scored three awards (beating out Beyoncé for favorite female artist) while BFF Ed Sheeran won favorite male artist and favorite album, beating out Sam Smith both times.…

When 19-year-old rising regional Mexican star Kevin Ortiz made enough money to buy the car of his dreams, he didn’t waffle on picking a model: “A Corvette LS2 ,” he says. “It’s a car that pulses on the road. I always wanted it.” Ortiz is one of a growing number of young Mexican acts forgoing European luxury brands for American muscle-car classics. Ford Mustangs and Camaros, often vintage, are regularly popping up in visuals from Luis Coronel and Remmy Valenzuela, who’ve topped Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, as well as Jorge Valenzuela and Ariel Camacho. And the trend has expanded beyond Mexican music. New York bachatero Prince Royce put a Mustang in the video for his hit “Darte un Beso,” while Puerto Rican rapper Wisin and Royce’s “Tu Libertad” features…

RAY J Konnection: Kim’s ex-man and sex tape co-star Kardash-spiration: In 2013, the R&B crooner released single “I Hit It First,” alluding to Kim’s relationship with Kanye West. Say what? After the song’s release, Kim tweeted, “We are not defined by our pasts.” TYGA Konnection: Kylie Jenner’s alleged (ex-)boyfriend Say what? After rumors started flying about the pair, Kylie tweeted, “I’m not trying to become a rapper, I’m not getting married, & I’m not pregnant.” Keep it in the fam: Kim’s hubby, West, produced the ratchet rapper’s most recent single, “40 Mill.“ ALEX DELEON OF THE CAB Konnection: One of Kendall Jenner’s BFFs Backstory: Pop-rocker DeLeon’s rumored lady, Victoria’s Secret model Hailey Baldwin, introduced the two. Say what? DeLeon tweeted that Kendall is “one of the best people” he knows.…

WHEN ELECTRO-POP ROCKER Alexis Krauss, 29, isn’t headbanging between stacked Marshall amps, she’s uncovering the hidden dangers of popular beauty products (like plathate-laced deodorants and coal tar-infused shampoos that have been linked to diseases including cancer). Her budding blog, Beauty Lies Truth, co-founded with friend Jessica Assaf, 24, in July, features their go-to all-natural alternatives and has even found an ally in fellow artist Grimes (nee Claire Boucher), who contributed a post about her own natural beauty secrets. Over soy lattes at Cafe Edna near her Brooklyn home, Krauss dishes on future plans for the site and her advice for safely freshening up grooming regimens. Why this blog, and why now? I read an article in The New York Times about plastic microbeads in face wash, and it opened my…

MOST OF KENDRICK LAMAR’S DAYS begin — or maybe end — around 5 a.m., when the 27-year-old king of West Coast rap comes home from the recording studio. He lives in a three-level condo not far away from where he grew up in Compton, Los Angeles, although he could easily buy a much nicer home. “I could afford a lot of things,” says Lamar with a laugh. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself in a mansion.” On those early mornings he lies down, his head still spinning with ideas from the session. “It’s hard to fall asleep,” he says. “I pop right back up — my brain is still working.” Eventually, Lamar drifts off for “a nice little nap.” He wakes for an 11 a.m. workout — “sprints…

ON HER EXCELLENT MIXTAPES Alter Ego and Winter’s Diary 2, Chicago’s Tink juggles singing and rapping with veteran skill. Justin Timberlake and Missy Elliott have lavished praise upon her, but it was Timbaland who signed her to his Mosley Music Group imprint under Epic Records in October. Since then, she has held her own on records with André 3000 and Jay Z — not bad for a 19-year-old. NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL “I want to be the female who’s going to say those things that other people won’t,” says Tink, born Trinity Home, who has released a protest anthem about Michael Brown’s death and an ode to the Kardashians’ endless bid for “white money.” ONE MIC, TWO TURNTABLES Lately Timbaland has eased off executive-producing full-length albums, but Tink’s untitled…

Following Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift, virtual reality’s next phase is heading to an arena near you. Based on early experiments from Coldplay (Laguna Beach, Calif.-based NextVR powered December’s “Ghost Stories Virtual Reality Concert Experience”) and Paul McCartney (the Beatle tapped 3-D app Jaunt for a November 2014 show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park), live music’s big bet for 2015 will be virtual-reality goggles, with the touring industry feverishly testing the latest way to make concerts more immersive. And festivals, too: EDM conglomerate SFX was rumored to have execs from its newly formed tech lab taking meetings with various goggle-makers at the Consumer Electronics Show.…

SCOTT VENER SITS ON A BURGUNDY SOFA AT THE PALIHOUSE Hotel in Hollywood, sipping coff ee while scrolling through emails on his MacBook. Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs sit nearby, but Vener’s unfazed. He was the music supervisor for the TV shows Entourage, How to Make It in America and 90210. Before that, the 44-year-old Encino, Calif., native worked as a talent scout at MTV, where he struck up friendships with Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake. Wearing a faded HUF sweatshirt and tired Adidas, he looks more startup than Hollywood. The curator-cum-entrepreneur strums his beard, green eyes crackling with energy. “Do you want to see the trailer?” he asks. He’s talking about the preview for the long-festering Entourage movie, on which he also worked as a musical supervisor. Before he…

SOMETIMES AT NIGHT, ALONE in his living room, Will Butler, 32, would drink tea and casually work on music. During those evenings and lapsang souchongs, he nearly fi nished three or four songs, yet it wasn’t until the Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist was Oscarnominated for the score to Spike Jonze’s Her, with collaborator Owen Pallett, that he considered a solo project. “I had my name attached to something really awesome, but that wasn’t totally mine,” he reasons. But Policy, his March 10 debut that will arrive on Merge, is totally his. A RECORD OF VIGNETTES Policy is a sophisticated amalgam of styles: garage rock, synth-andsax minimalism, HoJo-lounge funk. “The album is not all in my voice,” explains Butler. The disparate moods refl ect “a handful of characters who are a little…

Relying on research or your own ears; syncing the pulse of a local community with the talk of the Internet — today’s radio insiders have the gargantuan task of pleasing a diverse audience of 243 million listeners a week (91 percent of all Americans 12 or older, according to Nielsen) while facing an uncertain future. The business generates steady revenue — in 2013, year-over-year terrestrial revenue held flat at $14.3 billion, with online growing 14 percent to $570 million. But the arrival of Pandora, Spotify and YouTube in a market where traditional broadcasters and digital pioneers were already elbowing for space has upped the ante, bringing ancillary businesses like concerts and TV programming into the mix. What’s the plan for the digital media age? For the participants of Billboard’s radio…

Fabolous has weathered the storms of the music industry expertly for more than a decade now, with 46 entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — including nine top 10s. The 37-year-old Brooklyn rapper’s 1990s-inspired sixth album, The Young OG Project, arrived on Christmas Day as a digital release, continuing a holiday tradition he has followed with mixtapes during the past few years. The LP is the first under Fabolous’ new partnership with Roc Nation, and what he says is a turning point in how he operates as an artist. The Young OG Project is an album, but you’re approaching it like a mixtape. Why? With this project, I’m not looking at numbers or thinking that you got to have singles. It’s a different time in music. All the conventional…

COLLABORATION Kanye West celebrated the start of 2015 by releasing his new single, “Only One,” featuring Paul McCartney, early in the morning of Jan. 1. The unlikely pairing (with McCartney on keyboards, not vocals) arrives at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 (see page 3). 125 The song sold 125,000 downloads in the week ending Jan. 4, according to Nielsen Music, and starts at No. 10 on the Digital Songs chart. It’s the lead single from West’s upcoming studio album, and reportedly the first of several collaborations with McCartney. 30 A rare tweet from West announcing the single garnered 30,000 retweets on Jan. 1, according to Next Big Sound. The attention drove the song to No. 1 on the real-time Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart and the weekly…

‘Happy’ New Year Pharrell Williams (above) is one of several artists whose 2014 success translates to upward action on the Billboard Artist 100 thanks to year-end airplay and sales increases for the past year’s biggest hits. Williams’ “Happy,” the top Billboard Hot 100 title of 2014, notably helps spur his 71-48 blast on the Artist 100. The track re-enters Digital Songs at No. 37 with a 43 percent gain to 55,000 sold in the week ending Jan. 4, according to Nielsen Music. Its airplay similarly surges, by 22 percent to 27 million in audience. Williams also increased his profile during the tracking week thanks to his and Gwen Stefani’s performance of her song “Spark the Fire” on NBC’s New Year’s With Carson Daly. Other acts scaling the Artist 100 due…

Despite the media uproar, the recent Sony Pictures hack and high-profile album leaks haven’t significantly changed the music industry’s already formidable anti-piracy efforts. A source tells Billboard that Sony Music hasn’t instituted new policies in the wake of the hack — which the FBI has blamed on North Korea, although some suspect an inside job — possibly because, as an executive at a different major label says, “there really wasn’t much Sony could’ve done when the North Korean government is determined to f— you up.” Most executives agree that, short of a Beyoncé-esque surprise release or a digital exclusive like Jay Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne, leaks are almost inevitable by the time a pressing plant is involved. Despite herculean efforts to protect Taylor Swift’s 1989, the Target…

WHILE MOST MUSIC attorneys are thought to be hipper than their buttonedup colleagues in corporate law or litigation, you’d be hard-pressed to find one with the cool cred of 58-year-old Grubman Shire & Meiselas partner Kenny Meiselas. From the way he landed his first major client, Puff Daddy (by getting the then-19-year-old aspiring mogul fired from a project); to how he met his wife of 11 years, former publicist Beth Katz (Jennifer Lopez and Puff, then a couple, helped make the match), with whom he has one child; and his more recent notoriety as a viral video star who saved his young daughter from being trampled by a 200-pound basketball player at a game (“Diddy & Lady Gaga — Our LAWYER’s the Toddler-Saving Hero from the Bulls Game,” read a…

“I’m not nostalgic at all,” says Ian MacKaye, frontman of Fugazi and Minor Threat and putative leader of the early-’80s hardcore scene in Washington, D.C. “I know the f—ing story, I don’t need to see a documentary.” Nonetheless, the 52-year-old has participated in no fewer than five upcoming docs related to that scene, including Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC. “He’s probably tired of it all at this point,” says Salad Days director Scott Crawford. “But you can’t make a film like this and not have Ian involved in some way.” Indeed, Salad Days name-checks a Minor Threat song. Says MacKaye: “The last line is, ‘Some people call them their salad days, and I call it a f—ing lie.’ Having said that, there’s no question music in…

IM GOING TO GO OUT THERE AND POP THOSE BALLOONS, MAN,” says Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown. “I love breaking shit.” It’s 10 a.m. on a frigid December morning and Jxmmi (pronounced Jimmy) and his younger brother Khalif “Swae Lee” Brown, together known as the rap group Rae Sremmurd, are sitting in a dressing room backstage at New York’s BET Studios. The pair, slated to tape a performance for the 106 & Party New Year’s Eve show, arrived earlier on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles, where they held a listening party for their debut LP, Sremm Life, released Jan. 6 on producer Mike Will Made It’s EarDrummer before these two stomp over the festive decorations, some much needed rest is in order — at least for Jxmmi, who lies down…

Celebrating With ShepAn all-star roster of rock and pop stars welcomed 2015 on the Hawaiian island of Maui by jamming at the New Year’s Eve soiree thrown by legendary manager and Supermensch documentary subject Shep Gordon at the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt got things started with performances of their respective hits “Dream On” and “More Than Words.” Alice Cooper covered The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” The Beatles’ “Revolution” and The Doors’ “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” in addition to playing his own “School’s Out.” Despite the predominance of rockers in attendance, the evening’s highlights came from unlikely suspects: Sarah McLachlan performed ethereal renditions of her songs “Angel” and “Building a Mystery,” while “Weird Al” Yankovic delivered an over-the-top…

“I think I am Dr. Seuss. I’m the Grinch, I’m all his characters come to life in rap music.” —DANNY BROWN The Detroit rapper talking to Australia’s Triple J Radio, about his forthcoming children’s book. “Even when you meet them — I won’t name names — but some of these pop stars are just awful.” —SAM SMITH The singer, speaking with Chaka Khan in a V magazine cover story. “If you are law enforcement and you do something to a black person, you can get away with it.” —NICKI MINAJ The rapper, to Rolling Stone. “New Year’s resolutions: look after house plants/be a better child.” —CHARLI XCX On Twitter. “There are times when I think it would have been better if we had stayed married.” —GWYNETH PALTROW The actress on…

Turn your kitchen into a laboratory and give Krauss and Assaf’s simple Lavender Lemon Body Butter a try. “It’s the perfect way to get your skin nourished and refreshed for the new year,” Krauss says of the recipe whose ingredients are shelved at Whole Foods and most organic grocery stores. Ingredients 1 tablespoon organic cocoa butter 1 tablespoon organic shea butter 3 tablespoons organic unrefined coconut oil 3 tablespoons organic beeswax 6 tablespoons organic olive oil 3-5 drops lavender essential oil 3-5 drops lemon essential oil Melt all the ingredients together (except the essential oils) on low heat and stir gently until everything is melted. Pour the mixture into a glass jar or bottle, and add the drops of lavender and lemon essential oils. Once everything cools and solidifies, rub…

DJ Quik Famous for producing Snoop Dogg and 2Pac, Quik has released nearly a dozen albums since his 1991 debut. MC Eiht In addition to his 10 LPs, the Compton’s Most Wanted leader appeared on Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City album. Ice Cube Cube became a solo force and one of rap’s first Hollywood stars after his stint in pioneering Compton group N.W.A. Dr. Dre Andre Young left N.W.A. to release two classic LPs, produce countless smash songs and launch Beats by Dre. Eazy-E The N.W.A. member, recognized as gangsta rap’s godfather, released two solo LPs and feuded with Dre prior to his 1995 death. The Game With help from his mentor, Dr. Dre, the former G-Unit member refocused rap’s spotlight on Compton in the mid-2000s.…

Kanye West GEMINI (JUNE 8, 1977) Kanye was born with good fortune: Jupiter conjuncts his natal sun, the very best natal aspect you can have — it’s a signature of great success. In 2015, Mars will light his house of honors, awards and achievement for the first time in two years, from Jan. 12 through Feb. 19. That will be a very favorable time for Kanye to launch a new venture or an album. The new moon on March 20 — which is also a solar eclipse (a new moon on steroids) — will fall in his house of fame, portending even more excitement for Kanye’s career. Read more at AstrologyZone.com.…

In the same way children grow crystals on sticks when making rock candy, 28-year-old Melitta Baumeister grows them on the collars and belts of her clothing. “I dip materials into liquids and the crystals sort of create themselves,” says the German designer about her science-lab technique. “It’s a magical process.” This architectural-meets-fantastical approach has cast a spell upon music-fashion power players like Lady Gaga and Rihanna, who’ve both worn oversized coats from Baumeister collections. “Clothes with add-ons [like] the 3-D bananas I sculpted play a role in describing how artists envision their sound,” says New York-based Baumeister, surmising why songstresses gravitate to her aesthetic more than actresses. Proof she has even more tricks up her sleeve? Stylist Mel Ottenberg already placed orders for an upcoming shoot with Bjork, as well…

A new wave of apps like Undrtone want to follow in Instagram’s billiondollar footsteps Music Messenger With $5 million in funding, this “WhatsApp of music” counts Coldplay as a fan. Boomio Backed by former iHeartMedia/Clear Channel execs, the app sends track and text “booms.” Rithm With this “Snapchat of music,” users add their own pictures, stickers and words to song messages. Soundwave Designed like Instagram, Mark Cuban’s music app scored 165,000 downloads its first two weeks.…

LLA HENDERSON HAD already fi nished writing her debut album, Chapter One, when Ryan Tedder stumbled upon the British singer-songwriter’s cover of Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Goin’ Home.” Stunned by the vocal depth and delivery of the Lincolnshire teenager — who fi nished sixth on the U.K. version of The X Factor in 2012 — the OneRepublic frontman journeyed overseas and held a studio meeting with her. After 20 minutes together, the pair huddled around a piano and pounded out the powerhouse chorus of “Ghost,” which would become Henderson’s offi cial introduction to pop diva-dom, debuting at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart last June and teasing Chapter One, which Columbia will release in the United States on Jan. 13. EARLY INFLUENCES Henderson fondly recalls the swing and jazz…

IN MOST OF THE EIGHT WEEKS THAT FRESH pop face Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” ruled the Billboard Hot 100 last summer and autumn, it was easy to figure it would be recalled as a one-off novelty. It got by on balancing nostalgic girl-group and doo-wop sounds with hip-hop attitude and a positive, love-your-body moral. (No mystery that Grammy-voting moms and dads lapped it up.) Then, in October, Trainor hit No. 4 with her follow-up, “Lips Are Movin’,” in which the knowing line, “Tell me that you’re not just about this bass,” did triple duty: a rebuke to a shallow lover, a comedic callback and Trainor serving notice that she had more going on than a topical trifle — though it also risked “Lips” coming off as “Bass, Part…

THE MUSIC NOAH Lennox makes as Panda Bear exists in a trippy universe unto itself, one that’s parallel to his work as part of pioneering alternative band Animal Collective but without its fraternal, organic mysticism. Using samplers and extensively processed instrumentation, the 36-year-old cobbles together arrangements that range from sunny and kaleidoscopic (like the songs on 2007’s acclaimed Person Pitch) to melancholic and reverential (2011’s Tomboy) and glues them together with singing that’s simple and sticky. Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, Lennox’s fi fth studio LP, is his most direct and accessible statement yet: There are no austere synth drones, no waterlogged pseudo-homages to Super Mario 64. The vocal melodies are rich and impressively varied, from the descending riff s of “Mr. Noah” to the frenzied ping-pongs of “Boys…

NATALIE LA ROSE BLOOMS Natalie La Rose nears her first Billboard chart appearance as the Jeremih-assisted “Somebody” (I.M.G./Republic) bubbles under Mainstream Top 40. The debut single from the Amsterdam native reworks Whitney Houston’s 1987 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” like how Jeremih retooled Snap’s “Rhythm Is a Dancer” for his top 10 “Don’t Tell ’Em.” 'BREATH' OF FRESH AIR Wyoming native Josh Dorr claims the Hot Shot Debut on Country Airplay at No. 55 with his premiere single, “Save Your Breath” (RCA Nashville). He first self-released the song on his self-titled EP last May. Dorr’s songwriting path included several co-writes featured on the USA Network series Necessary Roughness, as well as the theme song for the Pursuit Channel’s Open Season. WASH CLEANS…

Chubby Checker’s iconic single started a dance craze and made Billboard history when it topped the Hot 100 in 1960 and 1962 “YOU HAD A CHANCE TO EXPLOIT YOUR sexuality while being fully dressed,” Chubby Checker said of his pop/R&B smash “The Twist” and its namesake hip-shaking dance in Billboard in 2013. “Before, that wasn’t happening in music.” Beyond the song’s immeasurable contribution to the evolution of seduction, “The Twist” boasts a vaunted chart feat: It’s the only hit to top the Billboard Hot 100 in two separate chart cycles. Born Ernest Evans, Checker was nicknamed “Chubby” at the age of 11 while growing up in South Philadelphia. He adopted his stage name in the late 1950s when American Bandstand host Dick Clark’s wife Barbara suggested it as a tribute…