Ever hear a song and wonder what it means? What inspired its lyrics? Why the artist chose to work with certain collaborators, and what they were doing in the studio when they recorded it?
It’s this kind of curiosity that drove Spotify to team up with Genius, the world’s largest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge, giving you a chance to more deeply connect with the artists and songs you love.
Today, Spotify introduced a brand new playlist, Behind the Lyrics (Hip Hop), followed by Behind the Lyrics (HITS) in the coming week. These playlists, curated by Spotify and Genius, will allow you to go Behind the Lyrics of your favorite hip hop tunes.
Tracks on these playlists will include lyrical excerpts, fun facts, annotations, and stories straight from the artists and from the Genius community, all of which are frequently updated. Simply hit ‘Play’ on this Genius-powered playlist to learn more about your favorite artists and songs.
To kick things off, three of today’s biggest artists — Pusha T, Tinashe, and Diplo — will take you Behind the Lyrics and share their personal take on some of their favorite tracks.
“I’ve partnered with Genius and Spotify to take you ‘Behind The Lyrics’ of my greatest songs because every word that I write means something to me,” says Pusha T. “Together we’ve found a way to bring my fans a deeper listening experience and raise the bar for songwriters.”
“Spotify and Genius are creating a really cool connection between me and my fans on another level than I normally can connect with them,” says Tinashe. “Not only are they able to hear the music and see the lyrics, but they are also able to understand where I was coming from when I wrote them and kind of get inside my head, which is really cool.”
“Being a producer and writer, I really love to see how some songs resonate with fans from the feeling / meaning or just sound of the records,” says Diplo. “I have always been a person that dissects music and studies it. I was a sample spotter and I learned how to make music by listening to it. Genius and Spotify are working together to break down music to the bare bones and get deeper into its true core.”
Rolling out today, the new Spotify and Genius Behind the Lyrics experience is available to all Spotify iPhone users with the exception of iPhone 4/s.
Lady Gaga rocked the entire world at the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show, and now her powerful singing voice is shutting down any of the few naysayers left. Here are the isolated vocals from that performance.
Here’s Chicago’s Joan of Arc with their new music video for “Never Wintersbone You” from their latest—and first album in five years—He’s Got The Whole This Land Is Your Land In His Hands out now on Joyful Noise Recordings. Directed by band members Melina Ausikaitis and Todd Mattei, and featuring a puppet and set design by Melina, it’s a serious and dark takeoff on Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight video.
Kansas City rapper Mac Lethal counts from 0 to 60 while performing an incredibly fast rap over a beat by Danny Grooves. This should be on Sesame Street.
The news is breaking. Josh Begley has combined every New York Times front page since 1852 into a single minute-long video. You’ll cheer when the paper finally goes color.
“We’re going to investigate every single one of these hypotheses, and we’ll tell you what we think is the truth about it.” – Jacques Cousteau in 1978
Jacques Cousteau, the world famous oceanographer and undersea explorer who invented the Aqua-Lung, dared to go where no one had gone before. He followed his passion to both protect and better understand our world’s oceans and the creatures that inhabited them. Cousteau was 65 at the time of this recording but he was still diving and hungry for more exploration and adventure. Here’s his story.
The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music and produced by Blue Ant Media, released its second collaboration session today. The session features historic pairing of 2015 Polaris winner Buffy Sainte-Marie and 2014 winner Tanya Tagaq working together for the first time. Their recording of Buffy’s song “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)” is now available via Stingray Music and YouTube.
Presented by Stingray Music and generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the purpose of the Polaris Collaboration Session is to get two Polaris nominees together to create a whole new piece of music. “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)” can be heard across the following Stingray Music and Vibe channels on TV, web and mobile: Canadian Indie, Adult Alt, Canadian Voices, Canadian Adult Alternative, All Aboot Indie, Canadian Indie Chart and Stingray’s Hall of Fame Picks.
The song was recorded in fall 2016 at Orange Lounge in Toronto with producer Jon Levine (Nelly Furtado, K’naan, Drake). It was mixed by Howie Beck (Feist, Hannah Georgas, Jason Collett).
Written by Sainte-Marie, the song was inspired by champion dogsled racer George Attla, who competed in the first-ever Iditarod dog sled race in 1973 and was the subject of the 1979 film, Spirit Of The Wind.
Tagaq and Sainte-Marie hope the message of “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)” can affect listeners in a number of inspiring ways. “It reminded me of growing up in Nunavut,” explains Tagaq. “Sometimes when things get difficult you have to pick yourself up, you can’t let things bring you down. You could take it to be an anti-suicide message. I really appreciate its powerful lyrics.”
Sainte-Marie wouldn’t be opposed to political candidates using it as a theme song. “There are very important things going on in Indian country right now. This is a song I’d like to hand to any of our Aboriginal candidates who really are in a position, finally, to make a big difference,” said Sainte-Marie.
An in-the-studio performance video of “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)” is available at the Polaris Music Prize YouTube channel. Episode five of the Polaris Podcast features an in-depth interview with Sainte-Marie and Tagaq where they discussed making the song. A free digital download and a separate vinyl release of the song will be coming at a later date.
Tony Alva is the original. Elijah Berle is the modern heir of the Z-Boys legacy, moving skateboarding into the future while honoring its past. Skating an empty backyard pool they connect on a level which transcends the 30-year gap in their ages, reminding us that skateboarding, at its core, is a way to express yourself.
On February 10, Tom Petty was honored as the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year, in recognition of his significant creative accomplishments, his career-long interest in defending artists’ rights, and the charitable work he has undertaken throughout his career. Speaking at the 27th annual MusiCares gala during GRAMMY Week, Petty reflected on his life of Rock and Roll.
Wow. Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.
Twenty years ago I’d have been way too cynical to do this, but I’m 66 now and I feel ya. I thank you for this and it’s a great honor. I’ve watched the whole show backstage. I’ve never — I’m really at a loss for words. The music has been wonderful, and I thank all these artists for coming.
I’d also like, right off the bat, to thank my band the Heartbreakers. They’re such an important part of all of this — I didn’t want to forget them. I know it’s been a long night, I won’t talk too long. I want to play you a bit more music. We have some friends we brought with us and we’re gonna get to that in just a second.
I’m just so beyond honored to be here for MusiCares. For something that does something for musicians. I know people that this has directly affected. And they know how to do it. They don’t ask for a lot of paperwork and the money shows up. And they’ve helped so many people.
And I thank all my friends and the artists that have come. To be here in the presence of so many great American songwriters is amazing. You know, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Lucinda Williams, Randy Newman. We’re truly honored.
It’s been about two years since I played with the Heartbreakers. Honestly, I’ve been producing records the last couple of years. We got together last week and rehearsed for this thing, and I realized I may actually be in one of the best two or three Rock and Roll bands there is. I’m so proud of them.
I got into Rock and Roll at age ten. I was collecting records — Rock and Roll records. Not rock; this was Rock and Roll. The roll designates a swing — there’s a swing in the roll. It’s a music that was created by black people, given its name by a white DJ named Alan Freed who, along with Sam Phillips — in music they saw it as a conspiracy to get black music on white popular radio. And when Sam found Elvis he called Alan and said “We’re ready to roll.”
The music became popular and it empowered the youth of America. The government got very nervous — especially the Republicans. They put Elvis in the Army and they put Chuck Berry in jail. Things calmed down for a couple of years. But it was too late; the music had reached England. And they remembered it.
“I joined the conspiracy to put black music on the popular white radio.”
In 1964, The Beatles came. I had my eyes opened like so many others and I joined the conspiracy to put black music on the popular white radio. And Rock and Roll goes on, you know. More like the blues or jazz now. But I’m heartened to see these young bands — The Head and the Heart, Cage the Elephant, The Shelters. They’re gonna carry this forward. And we have to be there to support them through it. Because there ain’t nothing like a good Rock and Roll band, people — here to tell you.
Let me kind of fast forward here — you know my story. This is kind of a surreal moment in a surreal life. For some cosmic reason, so many of the artists that I adored came into my world without me calling – they just showed up and we played together and we became friends. And there were so many people. The first one was Roger McGuinn of The Byrds who was there right away with my first record.
And so much has happened to me that you wouldn’t believe. I’m not gonna try to tell it all to you, but I’m thinking right now about one particular thing. I was looking out there — I know so many people here. Mo, Mo and Olivia are out there. I love Mo and I love Liv. Me and George Harrison and Jeff Lynne one night were at Mo Ostin’s house — this was before, we were just working on the idea of the Traveling Wilburys — and I had written this song Free Fallin’ and done the record and taken it to my label, MCA. And they rejected the record. And that had never happened to me before. I was like, wow, what do I do?
So, we forgot about it. And we were at Mo’s house and dinner ended and George said, “Let’s get the guitars out and sing a little bit.” And we sang and George said, “Let’s do that ‘Free Fallin’’ Tom. Play that.”
So we had a kind of Wilbury arrangement of it with harmony. And we did it. And Lenny Waronker is sitting there, he said, “That’s a hit.” With two acoustic guitars, you know? I said, “Well, my record company won’t put it out.” And Mo says, “I’ll fuckin’ put it out.”
But anyway — not supposed to do that. Ok. I was going to tell you, sorry. I’m trying so hard to be good. I got my wife is here. And my daughter Adria. I’m really on my best behavior tonight. But I did — I wanted to tell you one little thing. I got into town in 1974 and I was signed by Denny Cordell to Leon Russell’s Shelter Records. And Leon brought me over to his house and he said, “I want you to just hang around.” He like the songs that I’d done. “If it comes to a thing where we need some words, I need you to be here and I’ll pay you for it.” And he was gonna pay me, I was gonna be there, right?
So, the first session, in comes George Harrison and Ringo and Jim Keltner and they didn’t need any words. But those cats were so cool, you know? And I found myself — after the session when we were hanging out — I found myself slipping my sunglasses on. Leon said, “What the hell are you doing with the dark glasses, man?” I said, “I don’t know? It feels cool, you know, like Jimmy Keltner.” He goes, “Wearing a sunglasses at night is an honor you earn. Lou Adler had Johnny Rivers and the Mamas and Papas before he put them glasses on. Jack Nicholson mad really shitty Boris Carloff movies before he put them glasses on.”
Well, I’m putting my glasses on. But, I thank Leon for that advice.
I was going to tell you, I was fortunate enough to know the great Johnny Cash. I loved him since I saw him on the Hootenanny television show in 1962. They filmed in Gainesville, Florida.
Well, I actually didn’t see him that week. The paper said he was a little loopy and punched a policeman and did not appear that night. And I loved him. I loved all his songs. You know, “Hey Porter,” “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” “Big River” — you young songwriters, you wanna be a songwriter, just listen to “Big River” about sixty times and you’ll write something.
But we made an album together, Johnny and the Heartbreakers. And it won the GRAMMY for Best Country Record of the Year — without ever being played once on a country record station. But that’s alright, because it was actually a Rock and Roll record — Johnny was pretty Rock and Roll.
This morning, I was looking through a box and a card fell out — and it was from John on my 50th birthday. And it said, “Happy birthday. You’re a good man to ride the river with.” And that’s all I wanna be — good man to ride the river with. And I’m gonna keep riding the river. Thank you.
