Innholdsfortegnelse for Nov-29-14 i Billboard Magazine

Taylor On Top: ‘Space’ Replaces ‘Shake’ At No. 1 TAYLOR SWIFT MAKES history on the Billboard Hot 100, where her single “Blank Space” blasts 13-1. The song dethrones her prior smash, “Shake It Off” (both from her Billboard 200-topping album 1989), making Swift the first woman in the Hot 100’s 56-year history to succeed herself at the top spot. “Space,” in which Swift winks at her tendency to write songs about exes, reaches No. 1 after the Nov. 10 premiere of its official music video. The clip, which shows Swift trashing her lover’s cars and clothes, also helps the track debut at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart with 19.2 million U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 16, according to Nielsen BDS. It’s the second- highest weekly streaming…

BY ANDREW HAMPP RIO CARAEFF'S DEPARTURE AS CEO of Vevo at the end of 2014 — officially announced Nov. 17 after an internal memo had leaked — leaves the music-video service at a crossroads. After Caraeff failed to sell the company at a reported $1 billion this summer (Yahoo, Guggenheim and DreamWorks SKG were among early interested bidders), Vevo's identity remains fairly faceless beyond core stakeholders Universal Music Group (headed by Lucian Grainge) and Sony Music Entertainment (run by Doug Morris). Though the site has attracted marquee advertisers for branded web series, the majority of Vevo's 41.5 million monthly viewers (according to corn-Score's September desktop rankings) arrive à at the site through organic search for artists and songs. While a search for a new CEO gets underway, CFO Alan Price…

The network's longtime music executive expands her empire to include partnerships and sponsorships BY JEM ASWAD MTV's long-standing music chief and doyenne of the Video Music Awards, Amy Doyle,44,justgota major bump up from executive vp music and talent strategy, a role she had held since 2005, to executive vp music content and platforms strategy. She tells Billboard what her new title means. Describe your new role. Previously, I was doing a lot of the overarching music strategy, where I would connect a lot of the MTV platforms around everything we did musically, and someone else would bring the Twitter and Spotify relationships to the fold. Now, I will seek out those new partnerships. Will you be making additional hires? Yes, a vp of strategy and operations — someone who can…

BY PHIL GALLO RECORD STORE DAY IS TYPICALLY celebrated in April, but since 2010, mom-and-pop shops — along with labels and even movie studios — also have welcomed exclusive releases for Black Friday. On tap for 2014: a Guardians of the Galaxy mixtape on cassette, Island/Mercury's limited edition (2,300 copies) of the Big Lebowski soundtrack on colored vinyl and a double LP of American Hustle from Sony Legacy — all no-brainers. Less obvious fare, however, also has its place in the holiday shopping season, which kicks off Nov. 28. In fact, the niche market of film and TV music, while not normally discussed during the fourth quarter, is thriving. "The cult part is crucial," says Ed Seaman, COO of MVD, whose boutique label, Phineas Atwood, is releasing Superbad and Little…

Stephen King has already conquered the page and the screen, and now he’s eyeing the stage. For the musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, he worked for more than a decade alongside creative partner John Mellencamp and musical collaborator T Bone Burnett. The show debuted in 2012 in Atlanta, and this fall hit the road with stars Billy Burke and Gina Gershon through Dec. 6. Want to make your own musical? King, 67, has some pointers. Listen to your collaborators...: “In 2000, John pitched me this idea about ghosts in a cabin and a family related to them. Secrets, arguments, sibling rivalry. I said, ‘John, I don’t know anything about writing a musical.’ He said, ‘That would be the fun of it.’ ” ...but not all the time: “John comes…

BY CHUCKAR NOL D PITBULL IS A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE likes, and one of them is reminding people of his nickname Mr. Worldwide, hard-earned after years of performing party anthems around the globe. Following the theme of 2011’s Planet Pit to 2012’s Global Warming, he’s releasing his eighth internationally titled album, Globalization (RCA) on Nov. 23, the day after his second stint hosting the American Music Awards on ABC. But the Miami rapper born Armando Perez, 33, has a few other favorite things besides getting his passport stamped. CROSSING LINES (MUSICALLY) “Everybody has always tried to categorize me, whether it’s Miami bass, crunk, reggaeton, pop. Globalization shows you what my music is: music that touches the world, [with] sounds from all around the world.” ENRIQUE IGLESIAS “Enrique is…

Lana Del Rap? Are eccentric rapper Mickey Avalon, 38, and Lana Del Rey, 29, on the verge of working together? Avalon, who hasn’t released an album since Loaded in 2012, tells Overheard he wants to collaborate with the Ultraviolence singer for his new album, which he is readying for a summer 2015 release. “I really love her voice and her sad songs. I think we would be a perfect fit,” says Avalon. Del Rey’s dark, cinematic music would probably mesh nicely with Avalon’s autobiographical tales of drug addiction and male prostitution. According to an interview she recently gave to ALT 98.7 Los Angeles, one of the first shows she wanted to check out upon moving to L.A. was Avalon’s performance at The Viper Room. So what are they waiting for?…

“ ‘Will you guys please get Lorde to really sing it?’ They said no.” —JENNIFER LAWRENCE The actress, who sings a song in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, telling David Letterman that the filmmakers denied her request. “You snoots. Let her in. That’s what New York is all about. I say, ‘Welcome.’ ” —BILLY JOEL The Piano Man, to USA Today, chiding New Yorkers for scoffing at Taylor Swift being named a city tourism ambassador. “Part of having a friendship with someone like that is not letting them say stupid shit.” —LORDE The singer, talking to The Fader about her recent Twitter dust-up with Diplo after he criticized Taylor Swift’s body. “People get millions and millions and millions of views and they don’t get squat, trust me.” —GARTH BROOKS…

TWO YEARS SOBER, MARY J. BLIGE IS A SURVIVOR OF INTENSE CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, ADDICTION AND, TODAY, THE VAGARIES OF A NO-GURANTEES MUSIC BUSINESS WHERE BEING THE GREATEST LIVING DIVA SIMPLY MAY NOT BE ENOUGH. SO WHIAT DID SHE DO? ARMED WITH ADVICE FROM FRIENDS INCLUDING BONO AND ELTON, SHE HEADED TO LONDON TO COLLABORATE WITH SAM SMITH AND HISPSTERS HALF HER AGE: ' I DID IT FOR MY SELF' BY JONATHAN RINGEN PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARTIN SCHOELLER EVERY SO OFTEN MARY J. BLIGE finds herself in a place so lofty that even after all she's accomplished, she can't quite believe her fortune. One of those times came earlier this month, when she performed in front of Barack Obama during a White House concert for America's troops. She's a favorite of the…

I really like ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. Most Christmas songs have an element of cheese to them, whereas this is just a good song that happens to mention Christmas.”—Ed Sheeran “Right now, I love Daryl Hall singing ‘The First Noel.’ It is a gorgeous recording and it reminds me of my [late] friend T-Bone Wolk. It was one of the last things he did with [Hall].”—Nick Lowe like Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmas Time.’ It’s got a great synth line and is just mellow. I don’t really like Christmas because it’s really in your face. But that song is kind of chilled.”—Charli XCX ”[Frank] Sinatra is my favorite male singer of all time. ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ is my favorite song to sing…

HE BRAIN TRUST BEHIND THE HUNGER Games: Mockingjay Part 1 knew exactly what they were doing when they recruited New Zealand teen auteur Lorde to oversee the film’s soundtrack: She’s the musical analogue to protagonist Katniss Everdeen, preternaturally wise and idiosyncratic. Thanks to Lorde’s vision, and her grip on the series’ most important thematic elements, the 50 minutes of music comprising Mockingjay Part 1 (in theaters Nov. 21 through Lionsgate) function as both a checklist of 2014’s finest purveyors of complex, downcast pop and a complement to the start of the series’ chaotic, brutal conclusion. Its diversity is impressive, with artists from almost every phylum of popular music contributing: alt darlings Haim and Bat for Lashes, rising electro-pop stars Charli XCX and Tove Lo, beloved elders Q-Tip and Grace Jones…

PRODUCERS Nickelback, Chris Baseford LABEL Republic RELEASE DATE Nov. 17 FEW MODERN-ERA ROCK BANDS HAVE endured more of a public flogging than Nickelback. (The latest ? A crowdfunding campaign to keep the band from performing in London.) Yet, despite a cool factor that makes Limp Bizkit look like Led Zeppelin in comparison, the Canadian four-piece is one of the most successful acts of the millennium, with 20 million-plus albums sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan — and that’s just in the United States. So it’s doubtful that devotees would expect, or even want, anything other than the band’s usual high-impact riff -rock and power ballads. Nonetheless, on No Fixed Address, its eighth studio LP, the group partially shelves its platinum formula and flirts with some adventurous — at least, for the…

BEST KENDRICK LAMAR ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE “Hit me!” The “Compton” rapper invoked James Brown funk with an electric take of his self-love single “I,” busting trippy moves and wearing black contacts and half-done braids that recalled Method Man circa 1994. THE NEW BASEMENT TAPES ON THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON In a true standout moment, this T Bone Burnett-led super group brought life to Bob Dylan’s Lost on the River with its live debut. All-star jams of this caliber are usually reserved for the Grammys. ORAN “JUICE” JONES ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! In honor of the host’s birthday, Jones revived his 1986 hit “The Rain,” with Kimmel on backup. But the star of the campy rendition was Scandal’s Bellamy Young, playing the two timing woman from the song’s…

BAHAMAS HEAT UP A synch in a commercial starring James Franco for Verizon’s Droid Turbo spurred interest in Bahamas’ “All the Time” (Brushfire/Republic). The track from the Canadian act, aka singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen, marks its first entry on Hot Rock Songs (No. 19), and is included on Bahamas’ third studio album, Bahamas Is Afie, which debuted at No. 6 on Folk Albums in September. ‘TEETH’ BARED Kyla La Grange’s “Cut Your Teeth” (Ultra), which hit No. 13 on the Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists chart in June, builds at adult top 40 radio. With 41 spins, the dance-pop track was the fifthmost-played song on SiriusXM’s The Pulse in the week ending Nov. 16, according to Nielsen BDS. “It’s in hyper-rotation. We want people to hear it,” says SiriusXM director of…

BY ANDREW HAMPP AND ED CHRISTMAN TAYLOR SWIFT, USHER AND Justin Timberlake are about to enter an all-too-familiar crossroads for pop superstars: Their next albums will also be the last ones due to their respective major labels (Big Machine/Universal for Swift, RCA for Timberlake and Usher). But unlike the mega-stars of yore, today's top acts face a different marketplace in which they're required to work much harder for their hefty advances—with lower sales to show for it. In fact, you would have to go all the way back to 2001 to a find a nine-figure commitment, when Whitney Houston re-upped with Arista for a multi-album deal worth $100 million. Britney Spears recently renewed her deal with RCA for an undisclosed sum, sources tell Billboard. But when Timberlake, Swift and Usher…

BY HARLEY BROWN FRIDAY, NOV. 14 WAS A SORT OF COMING out party for New York’s Webster Hall, which, after 10 years as a Bowery Presents venue, celebrated its independence from the New York-based promoter with sold-out shows in each of its three music rooms. From the tiny basement Studio to the midsize Marlin Room to the 1,500-capacity Grand Ballroom, where headliner Caribou dazzled the crowd, the vibe was most noticeably different. Bowery Presents previously held an exclusive on the venue’s main room during most nights of the week. On the off nights, Webster Hall’s options were limited: “We were only able to [book] things that weren’t in the Bowery’s wheelhouse,” says venue vice president Heath Miller. But since the deal expired Sept. 1 and the companies amicably parted ways,…

BY JASON EPSTEIN AND ROB GLASER AS THE FIRST MUSIC-STREAMING service to be licensed by all major labels — and the No. 2 on-demand music service in the United States — it may surprise you to learn that we at Rhapsody support, and generally agree with, the decision by Taylor Swift and other artists to not make their new albums available on free streaming services immediately after release. Why are we taking this stance? We think that Spotify's apparent demand, that all its content be available in both their premium and free tiers, is overly simplistic and will not break the music industry's decade-plus-long decline. Instead, we believe in a much more comprehensive approach that (a) differentiates between free services like Spotify and paid services like Rhapsody, and (b) is…

ASCAP’s Centennial Awards NEW YORK , N OV. 1 7 IT’S NOT EVERY NIGHT THAT GARTH BROOKS CRIES IN FRONT of a room of 800 people. But the country crooner, who was honored alongside music icons Billy Joel, Joan Baez, Stephen Sondheim and Stevie Wonder, was moved to tears at the ASCAP Centennial Awards, declaring, “I’ll never say it again, but I’m very proud tonight to call myself a songwriter.” Held in the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom, the evening included special-guest tributes from such distinguished artists as Sting, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Year wood, Bernadette Peters and Indie Arie. Before Wonder took the stage, Motown Records founder and longtime friend Berry Gordy used his introductory speech to have some fun. “I didn’t even like his singing, to be honest, but boy,…

BY JEM ASWAD FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS, Marianne Faithfull has been one of the music world’s most singular characters: a Swinging London teen icon and mid-’60s girlfriend of Mick Jagger, a notorious heroin addict who revived her career in 1979 with the landmark Broken English and, most of all, a singer with an unmistakable voice who has released some 20 albums. Now 67, she’s marking 2014 with one of her best — September’s Give My Love to London (Naive/Easy Sound), filled with collaborations with Brian Eno, Nick Cave and more — and a fascinating photo book, A Life on Record (published Nov. 4 on Rizzoli) featuring pictures of famous friends including Allen Ginsberg, Paul McCartney and Van Morrison. But even after compiling the book, Faithfull has lots more to…

Jay Z has once again done what no other rapper has: buying outright an existing liquor brand, Armand de Brignac Champagne, in a deal announced this month. But this isn’t the first time hip-hop has bigged up booze, whether through song, collabs or in an ad. BEASTIE BOYS OLDE ENGLISH 1987 Ad-Rock, Mike D and the late MCA named their hit “Brass Monkey” (and its accompanying dance) after their fave stomach-churning cocktail: Olde English and O.J. ICE CUBE ST. IDES 1991 Ice Cube, EPMD, Rakim, MC Eiht and other rap legends began recording actual songs for the malt-liquor brand’s advertisements. NOTORIOUS B.I.G. MOET & ALIZE 1994 The lyrics to Biggie’s breakthrough single, “Juicy”: “The Moet and Alize keep me pissy, girls used to diss me/Now they write letters ’cause they…

Stuck on how to transform day-old bread into the perfect Thanksgiving side dish for your non-carnivorous friends? ”Drench it in vegan butter and herbs,” suggests Mandy Lee, 22, of New York band Misterwives, whose quirky “Reflections” is No. 14 on the Hot Rock Songs chart. Just in time for the holidays, the singer shares her foolproof recipe. INGREDIENTS 1 loaf of day-old whole-grain bread 1 stick of Earth Balance vegan butter 3 cups of chopped onions 3 celery stalks, chopped 2 small leeks, chopped 2 large shallots, minced 2 cups of cremini mushrooms 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh sage leaves ¾ cup of chopped fresh parsley 2 cups of veggie broth ¼ cup of dried cranberries 1 cup of chopped apple pieces 2 cups…

A key to rock history sits crumbling in a parking lot, and the tight knit music scene in Athens, Ga., is uniting to revive it. Nuçi’s Space, a nonprofit devoted to providing mental health services to local musicians, has stepped in to try to prevent the demolition of St. Mary’s Steeple, which is all that remains of the landmark church where R.E.M. played its first show, and band members Michael Stipe and Peter Buck resided, in 1980. (The rest of the building was demolished in 1990.) “It’s the iconic symbol of Athens’ music scene past and its potential,” explains project director Marc Tissenbaum. An Indiegogo crowd funding campaign seeks $250,000 to cover the restoration of the steeple and provide some needed support for Nuçi’s Space, founded in memory of Nuçi…

WHEN IT COMES TO THE HOLIDAY music business, Kenny G, 58, is a bona fide star. His 1994 release, Miracles: The Holiday Album, has sold 7.3 million copies, making it the No. 1 album of the season since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Five other holiday albums he has released, including a greatest-hits set, have sold an additional 4.7 million, so it's no surprise that his label, Concord Music Group, "has strongly advised me to release a holiday album next year," he says. "I'm thinking about it," he tells Billboard. And why not? The rewards for writing and recording a contemporary Christmas standard are substantial. According to music publishing executives, U.S. radio-performance revenue can range from $65,000 to $300,000 a year. Add in TV, film and commercial performance…

ON DEC. 14, 2004, “DIMEBAG” DARRELL ABBOTT, FORMER GUITARIST OF INFLUENTIAL metal band Pantera, lay in repose at the Moore Funeral home in Arlington, Texas, head resting on the pillow of the gaudy Kiss Kasket he had once asked to be buried in. A black-and-yellow Charvel “bumblebee” guitar — a parting gift from his hero and colleague Eddie Van Halen — lay in the 38-year-old’s arms. Unopened bottles of Seagram’s Seven and Crown Royal whiskey rested beside him. Abbott so famously adored Crown Royal that as the mourners — many of whom were deeply distraught members of at least 15 prominent metal bands like Alice in Chains, Anthrax and Slipknot — filed past him, a number added miniature booze bottles to the casket. “I was worried that his coffin stand…

PRODUCERS Rick Ross, Sean Combs, DJ Khaled, others LABEL Def Jam RELEASE DATE Nov. 24 RICK ROSS IS AT AN IMPASSE. THE Miami rapper, 38, is still one of hip-hop’s most commercially successful acts, with five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. But on Hood Billionaire, Ross’ second LP this year, he’s clinging to an increasingly charmless drugkingpin kabuki act. It worked for a long time — his run from 2009 album Deeper Than Rap to 2012 mixtape Rich Forever is hard to deny. He now occupies the same stuffy 1 percent as mainstream rap royalty like Jay Z; where hip-hop purists once huffed when Hova jumped on Ross’ “Hustlin’ (Remix)” in 2004, the two now churn out milquetoast collaborative anthems on a regular basis. But booming Lex Luger-style…

DIRECTOR Bradley Walsh NETWORK Lifetime AIRDATE Nov. 15 CONDENSING A STAR'S LIFE INTO 90 entertaining minutes is always a challenge, but Aaliyah: The Princess of R& was particularly troubled. Plagued by production woes, the Lifetime TV movie, executive-produced by Wendy Williams, originally cast Zendaya Coleman in the lead role, only to lose the Disney star after she felt it wasn't being "handled delicately." Aaliyah's family publicly opposed the project, accusing the filmmakers of failing to "consider the perspectives of those who were closest to Aaliyah." It's unfortunate, then, that Aaliyah disappoints as severely as its many skeptics feared. Alexandra Shipp plays the influential singer, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22, and provides an adequate portrayal. But the passable casting choices end there: The performances are…

TOVE STYRKE “BORDERLINE” RCA/SONY SWEDEN Can two Swedish singers named Tove cross over with confessional jams in the same year? New RCA signee Tove Styrke would love to match the success of Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” with the slithering “Borderline,” but her colorless lyrics — “I’m borderline happy and I’m borderline sad” — sink the snappy dancehall production. —JASON LIPSHUTZ SCREAMING FEMALES “RIPE” DON GIOVANNI Screaming Females graduated from being a buzz band long ago: The trio is already prepping its sixth studio LP, and front woman Marissa Paternoster exhibits the muscular cry of a seasoned pro. Unfortunately, the vocal force of “Ripe” doesn’t make up for the unpleasant drillsergeant melody on the hook. —KRISTEN YOONSOO KIM FICKLE FRIENDS “FOR YOU” CRAZY HEART After its debut single, “Swim,” this…

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like... A glance at the Billboard Artist 100 confirms the holiday season is here. Pentatonix powers 83-29 with album sales contributing 81 percent of the vocal quintet’s chart points, as its new release That’s Christmas to Me rules Top Holiday Albums for a fourth week. The set is the chart’s Greatest Gainer, dashing by 131 percent to 34,000 copies sold in the week ending Nov. 16, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Michael Buble (above) likewise (sleigh) rides holiday album sales to Artist 100 action as he debuts at No. 70. Album sales contribute 94 percent of his chart points, as his 2011 chestnut Christmas surges 5-2 on Top Holiday Albums (26,000; up 223 percent). Buble also brings the first holiday song of the season to…

BY GAIL MITCHELL The reasoning behind BET's decision to cancel 14-year mainstay 106 & Park and move it online is perhaps best summed up by this major-label vp promotion: "The ratings were in the toilet: Kids are no longer sitting and waiting especially to see a video now. Many of us are more surprised that the show lasted this long." Its last daily installment will air Dec. 19. In a Nov. 14 statement, BET said the "valuable brand" will continue to produce specials such as the channel's annual 106 & Party New Year's Eve show and live events tied to BET's annual awards show and Experience Festival in Dune. BET executives were unavailable for comment at press time. Launched in 2000 with original hosts A.J. Calloway and Free,106 & Park…

BY BILL BOARD STAFF In Billboard’s Dec. 13 issue, the Billboard 200 albums chart will premiere its most significant upgrade in more than 23 years. That edition of the chart, which currently tracks the top 200 albums of the week by sales alone, will be the first to include on demand streaming and digital track sales (as measured by Nielsen Music), by way of a new algorithm. It’s the most substantial methodology update since May 1991, when Billboard first used Nielsen’s point of-sale data — SoundScan — to measure album sales. The chart, which will post on Billboard.com on Dec. 4, debuts with data from Thanksgiving week (ending Nov. 30), one of the most active music-release periods of the year. The new methodology aims to provide a better sense of…

BY GLENN PEOPLES •PHOTOGRAPHED BY IOSE PHLLANES ACONVERSATION WITH Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman/CEO of Gibson Brands, is as colorful as his office and conference room—peppered with rustic asides and anecdotes about guitar legends like Les Paul and B.B. King and revealing a reverence and appreciation for their impact on the 118-year-old company. Among the items lining the walls of his Nashville office: thank you letters from Dolly Parton and Dwight Yoakam, an invitation to play golf from the Clinton Foundation signed by the 42nd U.S. president, aplaque from the mayor of Waukesha, Wis. (Paul's hometown), an oil painting of company founder Orville Gibson and enough six-strings to open a small retail shop. A guitarist himself, Juszkiewicz, 61, bought a nearly bankrupt Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1986, just seven years out of…

FIFTY-TWO DIFFERENT SONGS HAVE reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014. Only one of them doesn’t have an official music video: Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell ’Em.” “I blame myself,” the singer says, sitting on the rooftop of West Hollywood hotel Palihouse. “I had a video scheduled. I just didn’t show up to it because of...” he trails off, declining to elaborate. “I’m not going to point my finger at somebody else at this point.” Jeremih is one of R&B’s most reclusive hitmakers, but also one of its most talented, with three top 10s on the Hot 100 and 18 hits on the R&B/hip-hop charts during his career, including 2009 breakout “Birthday Sex” and “Hold You Down,” the DJ Khaled R&B posse cut featuring him, Chris Brown, Future…

SHOULD YOU CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE WHEN MAKING A REMIX? “No. First I do the remix for me — same as an original.” HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE ORIGINAL SONG’S VISION WITH YOUR OWN? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN A REMIX IS FINISHED? “When you play it on the weekend and the crowd loves it.” WHAT SOFTWARE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR REMIXING? “There is so much good software out there. I started with a laptop at home, and I know so many great bedroom producers who do great things. But it’s more about creativity and knowledge than the program. A program just helps you.” SHOULD YOU EVER REMIX A SONG YOU DON'T LIKE TO MAKE IT BETTER? “I could never remix something I don’t like. It has to fit my music,…

BY AYANA BYRD Big Driis has left the building. That was the name British actor Idris Elba, 42, known for his roles in Thor and Pacific Rim, went by in the early 2000s, when he moonlighted as a DJ around the world during his breakout run on HBO’s The Wire. “He has retired,” says Elba, laughing on-set in Paris where he is filming Bastille Day, a thriller in which he plays a CIA agent fighting terrorists in France. But musically, the nickname is all that Elba — who has rapped with Mr. Hudson and sung alongside Macy Gray — is giving up. After completing a seven-week DJ residency in Ibiza, Elba is releasing Mi Mandela (Nov. 24, 7wallace/Parlophone), an 11-track album he produced with contributions from Mumford & Sons, James…

ELECTRONIC PRODUCER RL GRIME ISN’T INTERESTED IN TALKING ABOUT TRAP MUSIC — surprising, since his dark, menacing sound caught on during the genre’s second wave in 2012. “That label is corny to me,” says the 23-year-old, born Henry Steinway. Still, like contemporaries Lunice and Hudson Mohawke, the Los Angeles native gained notoriety by blending bass-heavy dance music and Southern hip-hop as exemplified on breakthrough track “Tell Me” and a viral remix of Kanye West’s “Mercy” (10 million-plus clicks on Sound Cloud and YouTube). Now, he’s looking to break new sound barriers with his We did it debut, Void (Nov. 17), a shift from his house music side project Clockwork. Currently on a worldwide tour through February, Grime talks dropping out of college, graphic design and the state of EDM. 1…

A pitch-perfect present to hit the right note, no matter one’s holiday mood (or taste in music) CHIC CHAINS FOR THE HIPHOP DIEHARD Above: MOSCHINO quilted leather backpack with logo chain, $1,835; openingceremony.com. Below: GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI DESIGN high top sneakers in yellow calfskin, $1,050; giuseppezanottidesign.com. CLASSIC KICKS FOR THE COUNTRY LOVER LUCCHESE Dudley boots, $995; lucchese.com. HEAVY METAL FOR THE ROCKER From left: EFVA ATTLING balls necklace in sterling silver, $900; efvaattling.com. DANNIJO Maureen necklace, $298; dannijo.com. ANN DEXTERJONES DESIGN sterling silver ID necklace, $4,750; barneys.com. FUTURISTIC FINDS FOR THE DANCE FANATIC Above: GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI DESIGN high-top sneakers in red calfskin, $925; giuseppezanottidesign.com. Below: MYKITA X BERNHARD WILLHELM Daisuke sunglasses, $612; 212-343-9100. FOR THE HIP-HOP DIE-HARD Gold accents, sleek new dunks or the world’s most luxurious sedan — these gifts…

BY FRANK DIGIACOMO JIMMY IOVINE RECALLS THE to make A Very Special Christmas. It was January 1985, the day of his father Vincent “Jimmy” Iovine’s funeral. A Brooklyn longshoreman “who loved Christmas,” the elder Iovine had fallen sick during the holidays and died shortly after the new year at the age of 63. “His passing was bigger than I could have imagined,” says the 61-year-old Iovine. And when Bruce Springsteen called to offer his condolences, Iovine, who had engineered both Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town and gone on to produce such landmark albums as Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes and Patti Smith’s Easter, says he told the artist, “ ‘The only thing I know how to do in life, Bruce, is make music. I’m going…

IN A SERIES OF ARRESTING PORTRAITS OF YOUNG VETERANS, THE ROCKER EXPLORES THE WOUNDS OF BATTLE BY ADRIENNE GAFFNEY ROCK ICON BRYAN ADAMS’ LIFELONG INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY TURNED INTO A vocation when he began shooting for fashion magazines and advertisers more than a decade ago. But it’s not all models and celebrities: He most recently turned his lens on 40 British soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. His series Wounded: The Legacy of War, the subject of a 2013 book from Steidl and an exhibit at London’s Somerset House on display this month through Jan. 25, showcases the brutal (and all too common) injuries incurred in battle. “I didn’t like the fact that people were getting so badly hurt, so many people were killed, were displaced, forgotten. This is my…

Whether fronting Roxy Music or manning the stage on his own, Bryan Ferry has epitomized artful elegance for more than four decades. Avonmore (out Nov. 15 on BMG) is the 69-year-old English singer-songwriter’s 15th solo effort, and as fans have come to expect, it’s lush, soulful and, yes, very cool. You usually record with a core group of musicians. Is that continuity important? It is quite important. They’re people who I rely on, play great and like playing with me. They’re like CIA agents that you ring up: “Hey, I’ve got a job for you.” My son Tara plays great drums on the record. Judging by the credits, you rung up a lot of agents. I think there are nine guitar players on one song. That’s quite unusual. But it…

PRODUCER Dave Sitek LABEL Harvest RELEASE DATE Nov. 18 MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER EMERGING from Brooklyn as a leader of the local indie renaissance, TV on the Radio could invite the kinds of criticisms often hurled at its hometown — that it was better when it was dirtier, edgier and a little dangerous. But few fans have griped about the band’s steadily increasing palatability, a testament to how gracefully it has smoothed out and streamlined its original sound, a grinding mix of noisy art-rock and grubby urban soul. The act’s fifth album is another successful step toward the mainstream. Actually, Seeds is a giant leap. And not just because of how multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek builds on 2011’s Nine Types of Light, keeping the poppier glimmer but adding a jolt…

BY KEITHC AULFIELD IT’S AN INTERESTING TIME IN COUNTRY music. The format’s biggest-selling star of the last decade, Taylor Swift (25 million albums sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan), has departed for pop music with her latest album, 1989. Meanwhile, Garth Brooks — who has sold more albums than any artist, country or otherwise, since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991 (69.8 million) — has returned with his first studio album in 13 years: Man Against Machine. That return, however, has been greeted with a tepid reception, as the album debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 130,000 copies sold in the week ending Nov. 16. It’s far behind Swift’s 1989, which spends a third week at No. 1 by selling 312,000 (down 22 percent) — the first album…

BEFORE MILLI VANILLI BECAME A music-industry punch line, the dreadlocked duo — Paris-born Fabrice Morvan, 23, and Munich native Rob Pilatus, 24 — made Billboard history. The pair became the first group to land three No. 1 singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 when the shuffling, horn-infused “Blame It On the Rain” from Girl You Know It’s True topped the Nov. 25, 1989 chart. (“Baby Don’t Forget My Number” and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” were the other two No. 1s from the album, which topped the Billboard 200 that year.) The acclaim helped Milli Vanilli win the best new artist Grammy Award on Feb. 21, 1990, but the accolade was short-lived. On Nov. 12, 1990, following persistent whispers of Morvan and Pilatus lip- syncing at…