Entertainment
Performances That Thrilled the Audience at The Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards is often more of a concert than a prize-giving gala, with many of the dozens of trophies handed out before the main event.
But on Sunday, after a year when the music industry was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, the performances, many of them live from Los Angeles, respecting social distancing guidelines, seemed more electrifying than usual.
Here is a look at the high points of the night:
Hot girl antics
First, there was Megan Thee Stallion, who body-rolled and booty-popped in a series of bedazzled bodysuits that showed off her enviable thighs through her hits “Body” and “Savage.”
After an odd but perfect tap-dancing break, there was fellow rapper Cardi B, who offered “Up,” her latest single, looking like an armored sultry superhero in a futuristic neon set with eye-opening graphics.
And then, the night came to a head with “WAP.” The bawdy summer smash brimming with sexual metaphors, whose name refers to a saucy acronym referring to a well-lubricated vagina — would have been a likely candidate for the cutting room floor on broadcast network TV.
But after a year indoors with no live performance, the Academy amped up the mood with a little “WAP” — censored, yet satisfying.
The pair celebrated female sexual pride with gyrations, twerks, and a few pole twirls, peaking with a jaw-dropping scissoring flip on a massive bed.
“This is my first time at the Grammys, but it’s not my first time entertaining you,” Megan Thee Stallion told the audience.
Pop music’s flow
After facing years of accusations that its performances were staid, tribute-heavy, and stuck in the past, the Recording Academy rolled out a series of heavyweight performances that for once seemed to capture the true face of pop.
One perfect sequence saw rappers DaBaby and Roddy Ricch perform an orchestral version of the chart-topper “Rockstar,” followed by Latin trap king Bad Bunny, who took the stage to deliver a club-ready glowing rendition of the hit “Dakiti.”
And then came British pop star Dua Lipa, who actually appeared to levitate in a blooming purple dress to perform “Levitating.”
She stripped down to a disco-perfect sporty bikini for her smash “Don’t Start Now,” with eye-catching, high-kicking, aerobics-style choreography fit for a Jane Fonda workout video.
Pop star Harry Styles, who scored his first Grammy ever Sunday, impressed with his outfit, which included a fluffy green boa paired with a leather jacket and pants, highlighted by a bare chest.
His sexy stage antics got Twitter talking as he delivered a rendition of his erotica-tinged hit “Watermelon Sugar.”
Afro-Pop to the World
Burna Boy closed out the 2021 Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony with a medley performance just after winning his first-ever Grammy Awards for his 2020 album “Twice as Tall”. Burna Boy performed a mash-up of “Level Up” and “Onyeka” from his 2020 album “Twice As Tall”, and “Ye” from his 2018 album “Outside”.
His performance began outside the National Arts Theatre in Lagos. He was joined by a choir dressed in white, before moving into a space decorated with stained glass where he was backed by musicians and dancers in traditional African dress.
Country’s women get their moment
Country music doesn’t always get a lot of air time at the Grammys, but in a year when women ruled the night, it was only fitting that three of the genre’s most compelling female stars took the stage.
First up: Mickey Guyton, who is the only Black woman ever nominated in a country category. She delivered a beautiful rendition of her hit “Black Like Me,” before ceding the stage to Miranda Lambert, winner of the Best Country Album prize.
Lambert sang “Bluebird” before handing over to Maren Morris, who sang “The Bones” with John Mayer backing her up on guitar and vocals.
In a genre that has been roiled in controversy in recent years for its white, macho bent, the women offered a different face of country music.
Remembering those lost
The Grammys pays tribute every year to industry greats who have died, but the segment took on added poignancy given the hundreds of thousands of US deaths from the coronavirus, including John Prine, who won two posthumous awards.
A constellation of stars joined forces for the “In Memoriam” homage, first up were Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, singing “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” in honor of Little Richard, who died in 2020 at age 87.
Then, in an emotional high point, pop crooner Lionel Richie came out to sing “Lady,” the hit song he wrote for the late Kenny Rogers.
He was followed by Brandi Carlile, who honored Prine by singing his “I Remember Everything,” for which he won the two awards posthumously.
“It was an unspeakable honor to sing it tonight,” Carlile tweeted.
The moving segment wrapped up with a soulful rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by bluesy rocker Brittany Howard, accompanied by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on piano.
Demand for justice
Lil Baby staged a powerful performance of his protest song “The Bigger Picture,” which opened with actor Kendrick Sampson of “Insecure” getting shot by police after being found sleeping in his car.
The song that earned the rapper nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song provided powerful comment on police brutality, after a year rocked by massive anti-racism protests triggered after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody.
The set shifted to a police lineup and Black Lives Matter rally, with activist Tamika Mallory offering a plea for help.
“It’s a state of emergency,” she said.
“President Biden, we demand justice, equity, policy, and everything else that freedom encompasses. And to accomplish this, we don’t need allies, we need accomplices.”
“It’s bigger than black and white. This is not a trend, this is our plan: Until freedom! Until freedom!”
The Guardian
Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalog that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.
Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.” On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” among others as the best-selling album of all time.
“If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producers fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. “The tracks don’t just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”
The list of his honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q”, including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones would cite the hymns his mother sang around the house as the first music he could remember. But he looked back sadly on his childhood, once telling Oprah Winfrey that “There are two kinds of people: those who have nurturing parents or caretakers, and those who don’t. Nothing’s in between.” Jones’ mother suffered from emotional problems and was eventually institutionalized, a loss that made the world seem “senseless” for Quincy. He spent much of his time in Chicago on the streets, with gangs, stealing and fighting.
“They nailed my hand to a fence with a switchblade, man,” he told the AP in 2018, showing a scar from his childhood.
Music saved him. As a boy, he learned that a Chicago neighbor owned a piano and he soon played it constantly himself. His father moved to Washington state when Quincy was 10 and his world changed at a neighborhood recreation center. Jones and some friends had broken into the kitchen and helped themselves to lemon meringue pie when Jones noticed a small room nearby with a stage. On the stage was a piano.
“I went up there, paused, stared, and then tinkled on it for a moment,” he wrote in his autobiography. “That’s where I began to find peace. I was 11. I knew this was it for me. Forever.”
Source: APnews
Digital solutions provider, Globacom, has announced an entertainment tour for its youth-centric product, My-G. The show will be hosted across major cities in Nigeria.
Globacom disclosed at a press briefing on Thursday that the youth-focused entertainment tour is geared towards highlighting the huge benefits of My-G, a product which addresses the entertainment and connectivity needs of young Nigerians.
Globacom’s Director of Creativity, Mr. Chuka Obi, explained that My-G offers unique data bundles which enable customers to access their favourite entertainment sites, social media platforms, and streaming services at affordable rates.
According to him, “With My-G, Glo customers are able to enjoy WhatsApp, TikTok, Snapchat, BoomPlay, Audiomack, Instagram and GloTV without sweating on data cost”.
He added further that, “My-G package is awesome, and customers are assured of getting the best data deals to spend more time on entertainment sites that they love to surf. That necessarily means they won’t get their pockets emptied just because they want to have fun”.
Obi also added that the experiential engagements in these cities will be garnished with undiluted entertainment, while “the pass to enjoy this, will surely be their uptake of My-G data bundles”.
Youth leaders who graced the unveiling of the entertainment tour gave thumbs up to the initiative from Globacom saying that “it would create a great opportunity for young people to engage with the brand that has remained focused at connecting young people to their passions and empowering them at affordable costs”.
President, Students Union Government (SUG), Yaba College of Technology, Morakinyo Olaolu, noted that, “This is a good initiative for youth development. We thank Glo for My-G which is for us the Youth.”.
In the same vein, Adebobola Ayomide, SUG President, Lagos State University, opined that “My-G will help the youth to stay more active online. It will be useful to us in both academic and social activities. We are happy with the plan and we also call on Glo to provide other packages that will help improve student lives on campus. We appreciate the company at all times”.
Adekanye Ibukunoluwa,who represented the University of Lagos SUG, said, “Thanks to Glo for putting the Youth into consideration. Online is where we do most of our academic work and My-G will help us greatly with affordable data. We hope Glo will start bringing more activities to the campus so that the students can benefit from them from time to time”.
Globacom also seized the opportunity to reintroduce its competitive tariff plan, Berekete, which has now been reloaded as Berekete 10X, and offers more benefits including ten times the value of every recharge, double data value, and amazing benefits on voice calls.
The company also highlighted the benefits of Glo Café app, a one-stop shop for all digital services and other Glo products and services. Glo Café is available for download on the Google App Store where customers can get 100 GB Bonus Data which includes instant 75GB and 5GB data installments for the next 5 months.
In addition to these, an app exclusive recharge offer of 100 per cent and app exclusive data bonus of 10 per cent are also available on Glo Café. Similarly, the app offers an in-App exclusive digital data bundles on special data.
Glo Café was launched to offer users self-services like Data Purchase, Data Gifting & Sharing with utmost ease. The app also addresses self-care needs like balance checks, Recharge, Borrow, Credit/Data, PUK code, NIN number details.
Social Media activist, Martins Ortse also known as VeryDarkMan, on Monday alleged that popular crossdresser, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky has been arrested by security authorities.
VeryDarkMan alleged that Bobrisky was arrested at the Seme border while attempting to escape to Benin Republic to evade the House of Representatives investigative hearing.
In a video on his Instagram page, VDM as he is referred to said: “Bobrisky has been arrested this morning at Seme border while trying to enter BENIN REPUBLIC to escape the current investigation by the house of reps, he is allegedly being held by the Nigeria immigration.”
Recently, VDM released an audio recording of Bobrisky claiming to have allegedly bribed EFCC officials with the sum of N15 million.
During his conversation, Bobrisky also claimed not to have spent his six-month jail term in Kirikiri prison due to the influence of his godfather.
The revelation led to an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives but Bobrisky failed to appear before the committee, claiming to be sick.
Source: The Post
