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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2020 4:12:17 GMT
 Bon Iver's gruff voice accusing "I can see you standing, honey, with his arms around your body" on track four of Taylor Swift's new album, Folklore, is startling. Just as the whole record came as a surprise this week, his deep, raw vocals are a welcome jolt, juxtaposed against Swift's airy "I had a marvelous time ruining everything" admission fading out from the set's previous track, "The Last Great American Dynasty." The National's Aaron Dessner, who co-produced Folklore (alongside Swift and one of her regular musical partners, Jack Antonoff), told the tale behind remotely recording "Exile" in a pair of release-day interviews. As he recalls, the beginnings of "Exile" -- originating from the image of "an exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn't his own, wondering how it all went so terribly, terribly wrong," according to Swift's album notes -- came from Swift and the mysterious William Bowery. "Taylor wrote that one with the singer-songwriter William Bowery. When Taylor sent it to me as a voice memo, she sang both the male and female parts -- as much as she could fit in without losing her breath," Dessner explained to Pitchfork. In a conversation with Rolling Stone, he added that Swift and Bowery "got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it." "We talked about who she was imagining joining her," he said, "and she loves Justin’s voice in Bon Iver and Big Red Machine. She was like, 'Oh my god, I would die if he would do it. It would be so perfect.' I didn’t want to put pressure on Justin as his friend, so I said, 'Well, it depends on if he’s inspired by the song but I know he thinks you’re rad.'"  |
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Post by Admin on Aug 15, 2020 5:59:24 GMT
Taylor Swift and Bon Iver each make their maiden visit to Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart, as "Exile" bows at No. 37 on the list dated Aug. 15. "Exile" was released on Swift's new Billboard 200-topping album Folklore and features Bon Iver, the musical project of Justin Vernon, on vocals. The song marks Swift's first foray onto a Billboard rock radio chart. Comparatively, she's charted 36 titles on the Country Airplay chart (where fellow Folklore single "Betty" concurrently leaps 60-52). She's sent 33 entries onto the Pop Songs airplay ranking (where Folklore's "Cardigan" rises 27-22); 32 onto Adult Pop Songs (where "Cardigan" jumps 26-15); and 31 on Adult Contemporary (where "Cardigan" lifts 19-18). Bon Iver, meanwhile, lands its first title on a Billboard airplay chart. Previous singles were promoted to adult alternative radio, with some having bubbled under the Adult Alternative Songs chart, such as "U (Man Like)" and "33 'God'."  "Exile" also sports production from The National's Aaron Dessner, whose band has made four Adult Alternative Songs appearances, all since 2017, including the two-week No. 1 "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" that August. Multiple programmers at the format feel that "Exile" fits sonically. "It is funny because, while most of our listeners have heard of Swift, many are probably very minimally familiar with her music," Brad Savage, WAPS Akron program director, tells Billboard. "But, our audience does know Aaron Dessner and [fellow Folklore producer] Jack Antonoff, and we have played several songs by Bon Iver. It is fun to think our audience is more aware of what Bon Iver sounds like than Taylor Swift. In some ways, it is like he's saying, 'It's OK, guys, she's with me!,' to those who might be skeptical of her pop or country background. In fact, Lightning 100 [WRLT Nashville] recently got a tweet from a listener saying that exact phrase; I can't take credit for it myself!  "I believe American radio is too based on niche formats and what each station does not play," Savage adds. "In most English-language pop music formats across the globe, the playlists are more inclusive and wide. There's an old adage in adult alternative that says, 'A mile wide and an inch deep.' There can also be a 'way too cool' factor among some of our format's stations. The truth, in my view, is that most listeners just want to hear good songs and they trust us as a filter or curator for that experience. There's no question that Taylor's new record deserves its exposure." |
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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2020 5:10:15 GMT
Taylor Swift is number one again in the Irish albums chart with her latest release, Folklore. Taylor's eighth studio album was Ireland’s most purchased and streamed album of the last seven days. On the album's release some weeks ago, Swift was swiftly top of the Irish, UK and US charts, as reported on RTÉ Entertainment. The American singer was challenged for the top spot last week by The Coronas and Fontaines D.C. Their releases -True Love Waits, which had made the number one spot, and runner-up A Hero's Death are this week's numbers 10 and 5 respectively. The Coronas album is the fastest-selling album in Ireland of 2020 to date and was the band's second number 1 following 2017’s Trust The Wire release. Psychedelic pop band Glass Animals claim this week’s highest new entry with Dreamland, the second British band to claim a Top 10 album with a new release in 2020, along with The 1975's Notes on a Conditional Form, the fourth studio album by the English band, released on May, 2020. Korean boyband BTS are in at Number 19 with Map of the Soul: 7 - The Journey, their first ever Japanese language album to chart in Ireland. US rapper Amine is at Number 45 with his second studio album Limbo.  |
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Post by Admin on Oct 21, 2020 4:03:13 GMT
Justin Vernon delivered a powerful new Big Red Machine song while encouraging voting in his home state of Wisconsin.
In the latest installment of his "Visit With Vernon" campaign, the Bon Iver star introduced (safely and six feet apart) the song called "Latterdays" to a voter in the swing state. The series is a part of the “For Wisconsin” voting initiative by Vernon and Aaron Dessner's Eaux Claires Festival.
"One of the ways I communicate is with music," he explains in the clip. "I wanted to play you this song. A friend of mine named Anaïs Mitchell, she wrote all these words. I thought I would play it for you, if that's cool? So, it's called 'Latterdays.' To me, I think about what it's going to feel like in the future when we look back and we wonder if we did enough."
The song, fitting for this tumultuous year, features the lyrics: "You and your clever mouth/ You were laughing when the lights went out/ I recall it all forever / How it found us where we lay / With our arms around each other / In the latterdays."
Taylor Swift beamed with pride for her "exile" collaborator, retweeting the video and writing, "Stunning and important. So much love and respect for @boniver."
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Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2021 23:19:54 GMT
We already declared Taylor Swift’s Folklore to be the Best Album of 2020. But until now, we had yet to hear from the numbers. Now, the numbers have spoken, the data has assembled into integers and decimal points, and the answer is in: Folklore is the biggest album of 2020, too.
In recent days, Headline Planet has been revisiting incredible songs that deserved more pop radio attention in 2020. Whether due to poor timing, unfortunate radio habits, or strategic label decisions, these songs were unable to reach their potential as pop hits.
Previous “songs that should have been pop hits” selections are available here. The eighth selection follows.
Selection Eight: Taylor Swift’s “exile (featuring Bon Iver)”
Over the past fifteen years, two simple rules have emerged:
1) If there is a challenge in front of her, Taylor Swift is going to conquer it.
2) Consequently, if you doubt Taylor Swift, you’re going to look foolish.
At the onset of her career, some chose to dismiss Taylor Swift as a novelty teen singer-songwriter. She immediately proved them wrong. Across her first few albums, she made better songs — and more meaningfully captured the human condition — than musicians thrice her age with significantly more experience.
As she formally transitioned from country to pop, some questioned whether she could translate her personal, diary-entry-style songwriting into broad, accessible pop songs. She proved them wrong as well, delivering some of the catchiest pop songs of the past decade – without even slightly sacrificing her intimate, authentic songwriting voice.
For her 2020 albums “folklore” and “evermore,” Swift embraced a new challenge. In addition to pursuing a rawer, more alternative sound, the artist explored a more distant form of storytelling. Rather than writing primarily about personal experiences, feelings, and anecdotes, Swift created, explored, and/or embodied different characters and journeys. Naturally, her approach raised a question: without as many overt references to her own life, could she craft songs with as much emotional honesty and significance?
The answer, unsurprisingly, was a resounding yes. The two albums collectively serve as a masterclass in meaningful songwriting, with Swift showcasing an unrivaled flair for precision of imagery and conveyance of emotion. She may not be exclusively writing about her reality — or anyone’s specific reality, for that matter — but the worlds she creates through pointed lyricism and poignant vocal delivery are as real and relatable as any she has ever showcased.
Swift takes no detail for granted and thus never wastes a single moment. Every lyric adds clarity to the stories she is telling and characters she is exploring. Every turn in her voice underscores the highly nuanced, wholly human sentiment of her narratives. Swift may not always be singing about her own life, but she wholeheartedly thrusts herself into this universe. As a result, the music is as honest and alluring as anything she has ever released.
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