Taylor Swift Wins Best Director

Swift stars in the video, playing a white male of extreme privilege. It follows her around as she boldly tramples through the day. The tone is both funny and charming and she successfully captures a day in the life of an entitled wealthy white man. She gave her acceptance speech via video as did the other performers and made a point to thank both her industry peers as well as her devoted fans.

Swift is the first woman to win this award as well. This just goes to show you, all it takes is a global pandemic for women to be acknowledged as great directors by MTV.


How Music Affects Your Mood

Not that it should come as a shock to anyone ever, but music in case you had any doubt that music has the ability to make you feel better, read on for some scienc-y facts that will make you feel even better about indulging in music immersion when you need a little pick-me-up.

You know it feels good to shake your hips to your favorite jam, but did you also know it can help lift your mood, reduce anxiety, and decrease stress hormones in your body? Yep, from the earliest drum rhythms played around a fire, till now, music has served as an integral and vital part of the collective human experience.

It has also been linked to better overall physical health by helping to manage stress, enhance memory, and even help alleviate pain. So much so that many hospitals play music of the patient’s choice before undergoing surgery. Further, it can help as an effective treatment with mood disorders, dementia, Parkinson’s, MS, and stroke.

So keep up the listening and know you’re doing your body some good.


Music Finds Ways To Thrive During Covid

 

 

How and why do artists do what they do? Is it for the money? Fame? The unlimited supply of green m&m's? Well, it might be a combination of all of these things.  However, in times of crisis, like the one we are all currently experiencing, artists, have been known to tap into a deeper zeitgeist that has become the here and now. This time its one which involves reflection, authenticity, and a questioning of the status quo.

For many musicians, the existential crises and epiphanies go hand in hand. And while this time in human history has been riddled with tragedy, cruelty, and unjustified heartache, it's also been a time for everyone to take stock in asking the question, "How can I become my highest self?"

And artists all over the world have been quite vocal in answering this. For musicians specifically, it remains to be seen when, where, and how they will return to their worlds of live performance, but the act of creating new music is surely seeing a new renaissance. While it may not be a source of lucrative monetization, it is one that brings a deep fulfillment.

So the next time you see your favorite musician going live on Instagram, maybe stop the scroll for just a few moments and take a listen to what they have to share. It might just become the new soundtrack to your life.

 


Dua Lipa Talks About The Value Of Social Media Breaks

 

Dua Lipa has recently been quoted as saying her second record wouldn’t have been made if she hadn’t dropped social media like a bad date at Chilli’s. When speaking with Adwoah Aboah’s, Gurl’s Talk podcast, the singer expressed that “Future Nostalgia” wouldn’t have been possible if she “hadn’t taken a step back” from many online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter when she was recording it. 

After taking what she saw as a much-needed break from social media she said she was able to make the record. The record has received widespread acclaim as Dua is seen as a strong pop voice to listen to in 2020. So it just goes to show that even the biggest names in pop and social media need a break from it every once in a while. Cheers to that.


Listening To Music Helps Ward Off Depression

 

Netflix binging is great and a cheaper route than Xanax. But if you’re feeling some level of screen fatigue like most human beings right about now, and needing to evade the blues, try taking a listen to some songs that will help you to get to your happy place, even if it’s for just a little while. Not to mention, there are loads of scientific studies showing music can improve your mood and ward off depression. It can also improve blood flow in ways somewhat similar to statins as well as lower your levels of stress-related hormones such as cortisol. Lastly, listening to music has been shown to ease pain. As a matter of fact, listening to music before surgery has been shown to improve post-surgical outcomes. 

 

Listening to music seems to “selectively activate” neurochemical systems and brain structures associated with positive mood, emotion regulation, attention and memory in ways that promote beneficial changes, says Kim Innes, a professor of epidemiology at West Virginia University’s School of Public Health. Further, there’s no one single music listening center in the brain as it has the ability to activate nearly every region of the brain mapped out so far. This then would speak to the reason music is indeed so universal and why it’s such a powerful tool in affecting our moods.

 

So do yourself a solid and listen to some happy music the next time you’re starting to feel down. Who knows, it might just put a little spring in your step. And right now, that’s something we all could use a little more of.


Ten Songs To Put You In A Better Mood Than The One You’re In Now

Tags: Better Mood, Dance, Happy, Mental Health, Music

By this point, most people are beginning to feel the fatigue of the quarantine. If you haven’t been affected by the virus itself, the challenges of isolation have most likely set in. If you find yourself down, try checking out these tried and true happy tunes to help boost your spirits. There’s no magic bullet, but these songs have been making feel empowered and uplifted for years.

  1. "Happy," Pharrell (2013): You can’t help but dance around like an eight-year-old at a bar mitzvah when you hear this song.
  2. "Better Be Good to Me," Tina Turner (1984): And here, you’re guaranteed to have a new swagger when listening. Even if you’re not wearing a leather skirt.
  3. "Blessed," Elton John (1995): He promises us we are blessed. Everyone needs to hear this right about now.
  4. "Neutron Dance," Pointer Sisters (1983): Sideways hop-dancing, check. Big bangs, check. Shoulder pads, check. What more does a person need?
  5. "24K Magic," Bruno Mars (2016): Now just go find that gold chain.
  6. "Rainbow," Kacey Musgraves (2018): if it isn’t Kermit The Frog telling us about the importance of rainbows, it’s this woman. 
  7. "Good as Hell," Lizzo (2016): Put your hand to the sky and testify with this and add another, “I’ll have another!”
  8. "I Feel for You," Chaka Khan (1984): Does anyone else remember their first crush when they hear this song? Asking for a friend.
  9. "You Make My Dreams," Daryl Hall and John Oates (1980): These two will forever and ever make a person dance like a teenager. Braces and acne may be a side effect but well worth the groove-on you will promptly receive.
  10. "Don't Stop Me Now," Queen (1978): Ok, so this one is for use inside the house, outside the house if you are alone or accompanied by a dog that has been thoroughly washed and is willing to be your dance partner.

11. Rapper’s Delight- Sugar Hill Gang (1979)- The song that started it all. We all have permission to be groovy when this is on. Do it now, I dare you to not shake your tailfeather.


New Songs In May To Help With The Quarantine Blues

We are either all fools or no one is at this point, but most of us are starting to feel the itch of isolation, worry, and quarantine. So here are a few tunes to help take your mind off it all (albeit temporarily.)

Troye Sivan releases, “Take Yourself Home,” a sweet and touching rumination on the search for one’s place in the world. With dreamy vibes and reflecting moments, it can be your phonographic bubble bath.

Drake’s Toosie Slide is not only a new song, but an early designed TikTok hit. The Canadian rapper sought out influencers in advance on the platform to create dance videos to create an instant success before it was even released. By the time of its debut in early April, “Toosie Slide” was already charting. It’s a mellow instrumental riff with a trap beat, but the catchy dance instructions are what will keep people either dancing or simply putting one foot in front of the other after binging on food, alcohol, NetFlix, or all of the above: “Right foot up, left foot slide.”

Don't Worry Be Happy, is a catchy little acapella ditty that has put a spring in the step of listeners for generations. I dare you to listen to this song once and not be whistling along by the end.

Good Life, by One Republic, is as catchy as all their tunes and, also like most of their tunes,  should put you in a mood to run a marathon.

Pharrell Williams just knows how to make you feel a little better with his song, Happy. It's almost impossible to not feel just a little better when listening to this. Even if you've run out of toilet paper.

No matter what, keep your chin up. One day at a time is all it takes. Heck even taking it three minutes at a time to enjoy some uplifting music may make your day a little brighter.

 

 


Songwriters and Composers Generate Record $876 Million In Music Royalties

Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi

 

Remember that sensitive kid in high school who carried a Moleskin, took Drama and sang in the Glee Club? Yeah, you don’t. Jerk.

Well while you’ve been killing it in the HVAC game, driving a big fancy truck with extra-shiny-sparkly chrome, that dweeb from high school has been part of a group that nearly made a collective $1 billion in 2019.

PRS for Music, the organization that represents the rights of over 145,500 songwriters, composers, and music publishers in the US and worldwide, collected a record $876 million on behalf of its members in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%, according to Music-news.com.