Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist w/ over a decade of experience. Lover of good music, fringe movies, day baseball & chicken shawarma. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
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Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from the plethora of American Idol news that includes happenings involving their new winner, two old winners, a judge, and two former contestants, to an attempt at a unique musical milestone, to an artist that totally wants to get you into bed, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* Adam Lambert topped the Billboard albums chart this week with his latest release, Trespassing. He knocked another former American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, from the top spot, in what seems like an evil plot to have the show dominate all pop music news this week. You’ll see what I mean in a second.
* Idol judge, and occasional Fiat driver, Jennifer Lopez, who America somehow allowed to become famous again, is hinting that she might be “too busy” to do another season of American Idol. Apparently the script for the next Anaconda just looks too good to pass up.
* In even more American Idol news, Phillip Phillips, whose parents must have heard Harlem World rapper Blinky Blink and said “let’s name our kid like that,” was voted the show’s season eleven champ. To celebrate he immediately ripped the single they were making him sing, saying, when it comes to “Home,” “I don’t write songs like that.” In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he continued, adding “the song that I did tonight that supposedly is my single, it's not really my single, I told them it's not my single. I have my own stories to tell, (but) I couldn't do my song [on the finale]; we just didn't have enough time.” Normally I’d say this guy just aimed a gun directly at his foot, but judging by how poorly most of the recent Idol winners have done, maybe he’s being smart to distance himself from what the show wants him to do.
* Also on the Idol finale, season five contestant Ace Young, who, sadly, is no relation to the short lived video game and cartoon hero Space Ace, proposed to season three runner up Diana DeGargmo. Because this is Idol, however, even his proposal had an ad placement in it, as Young said to his now fiance, “we have conquered Broadway together; we have created all your new music together... We have an amazing group of people around us, and, with the help of David Webb Jewelry, I have a way to make this fun last forever.” Nothing says “love” like making your proposal a paid on-air promotion.
* In non-American Idol news (yes, there actually is some), a photographer is accusing Justin Bieber of roughing him up outside of a theater in Calabasas, CA. I'm sorry, but have you seen Justin Bieber? He doesn't even break 80 pounds with his pockets full of change and a brick in each shoe. He's about as likely to have punched someone as he is to have peed standing up.
*Jack White is attempting to set a world record. No, it’s not for album sales, or downloads, or even for paleness, it’s for the most metaphors in a single concert. Apparently he deemed this easier than making a solo album people actually want to listen to.
* George Clinton has settled his song lawsuit with the Black Eyed Peas that had been ongoing since December of 2010. The suit claimed the Peas used one of his songs without permission in remixes to their song “Shut Up.” The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but since it’s George Clinton we can assume drugs and multicolored hair accessories were involved.
* Elton John was forced to cancel his performance dates in Las Vegas this past weekend due to a respiratory infection. The entire city reacted by saying “great, now where are we going to go to see someone singing in elaborate costumes?”
* With Donna Summer and the Bee Gees’ Robin Gibb passing away in the same week all disco balls will be hanging at half mast until further notice. Apologies to all tall nightclub attendees. Watch your head.
* In addition to disco having a terrible week, Go-Go music also took it on the chin as the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, passed away. The world is slightly less funky than it was a week ago.
* Closing things off on a high note, or, more precisely, a smooth note that will make you want to grab the nearest attractive person and make out with them, Sade has released a live CD and concert DVD, both of which were recorded during her Bring Me Home tour in 2011. The tour... ah, why am I still writing, you’re not reading anymore, you’re making a baby, aren’t you? I’ll take that lack of reply as a yes. Here’s some Sade to help.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
Partying is universal. Everyone likes to do it, even if we don’t all define “party” in the same way. The Miami duo FYAH recognized this, and when they released their single “Party,” the video for it became an instant hit, racking up over 200,000 views on YouTube.
FYAH consists of lifelong friends B-Wick and Krispy Keem (pictured Left to Right), and over the Memorial Day weekend they were all over Miami helping people have fun, performing at numerous clubs, a car show, and as a part of a large radio station event at Sun Life Stadium. Currently, FYAH are prepping their next mixtape, as well as an official album, and they’re booking shows for a trip to Canada. Somehow, in the midst of this busy schedule of performing and recording, B-Wick and Krispy Keem found the time to sit down with me to discuss their decision to embrace a more pop oriented version of hip-hop rather than one of hip-hop’s other subgenres, how a contest radically altered their career, and what the nightlife in Miami is like in even the most unassuming of bars.
Last week I cleaned up my contact list and found I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 publicist email address, the vast majority of which have been obtained through receiving emails promoting artists. When you work with that many people at once, and that many people are sending you emails on a regular basis, a lot of it can become a blur. Since there isn’t enough time in the day to read every press release and listen to every album download sent, an obvious question is how have some publicists made it so that I always open their emails, listen to the music they send (even if it’s not in my preferred physical format), and set up features for their artists on a regular basis? The answer is - it’s all about the relationship.
Everyone starts out with an email relationship. The publicists that go beyond that are the ones who win. With that in mind, I’ve put together a quick list of four ways I’ve witnessed publicists make themselves stand out from their peers, and separate themselves from the pack. These ideas don't just apply to the publicist - writer relationship, though, they apply to all business relationships, so extrapolate away!
Picking up the phone
I can count the number of publicists that call me on one hand. Because of how small that number is, I can tell you a lot about these folks, from whether or not they have kids, to the names of some of their pets. Most importantly, I can tell you a large chunk of their client roster. These are the few, the far, the between (the between?) that have created a real relationship with me, and they’ve done it with only one or two phone calls per year. Yes, you read that right, per year. It’s a tiny investment of time that reaps huge rewards.
Being social on social networks
This may sound ridiculously trivial, but it can actually result in some nice benefits. When a publicist replies to a tweet of mine, or a Facebook status update, or even just “likes” a Facebook status update, it not only shows me that they know I exist, it reminds me that they exist, as well. It takes all of thirty seconds, and instantly makes me welcome seeing their email address in my inbox. You’d be hard pressed to find a more effective way to spend half a minute.
Sending physical product
Everyone has read, or heard, me profess my love of the physical product. A handful of years ago I was already being called a dinosaur for preferring CDs to downloads (hopefully they thought of me a really rad meat eating dinosaur!), but now with so many publicists only sending downloads, the ones that send CDs really stand out, and not in a “damn, they’re old” kind of way, in a “I know their name because of this” kind of way. With 450+ publicists pitching me I don’t have time to listen to everything being sent to my inbox. In fact, sometimes I’ll download things and never end up listening to them. The CDs that sit on my desk, simply by virtue of having been in a package that I’ve taken the time to open, quickly separate the publicist that sent them from the rest of the pack. I read the press release, I am reminded of the previous times I’ve worked with them, and I am 100% more likely to respond to their emails.
Meeting and greeting
This is the optimal way to connect with anyone, but depending on where you’re located it can also be the most difficult. Nothing beats a handshake and a hello (or a hug and a hello depending on the gender of the contact and the business you’re both in), but not everyone is lucky enough to live right around the corner from where the majority of their contacts work. These kinds of connections are a 50/50 responsibility, meaning the publicist can only do so much, it’s also on the writer to make an effort to elevate the relationship to this level. I make it a point to meet as many contacts as I can in person. I’ve even flown to LA a few times just to connect with the people I work with that aren’t local. Every single one I’ve met in person I have a better working, and personal, relationship with, and, again, I open up and pay attention to all of their emails.
These are the four primary ways I’ve experienced publicists creating more effective relationships with writers. If you have any others you’d like to share from your own experiences, please leave a comment!
Vinnie Scullo deserves to be one of the biggest names in music. I know I’ve been shouting this at the top of my lungs for five years now, and I’m going to continue to shout it, and post his videos, and do whatever else I can to bring awareness to his incredible talents until he’s finally in a position where my shouts aren’t necessary and I can get a lozenge.
This is his video for “SLOWHIO,” a song off of his upcoming album, VELCRO. It features Vinnie’s trademark fast paced wit that makes you want to hit rewind so you can take in everything he says. His combination of being unafraid to take on what he sees wrong with both music, and society as a whole, along with lyrical abilities that allow him to spit lines like “I like to flip bars like the old prohibition pet shops when the Po' come,” are exactly why I keep shouting about him.
For more on Vinnie Scullo check out these shockingly old features:
Everyone experiences darkness in their lives, which is why 19-year-old pop singer/songwriter Molly Moore made her debut album about pushing oneself Into The Daylight.
"This EP is about getting through that darkness," she explains, "reminding yourself that there's light on the other end and that it's worth fighting for. [It's about] learning from the mistakes and pain you go through and figuring out a little more about who you are as a person from those experiences."
Moore is speaking, and singing, from firsthand experience...
B-Listers are a select group of artists that were featured in my Artist Of The Week series that ran every Monday from April of '06 to April of '11. All of these artists have two things in common; extreme talent, and a flight path far too under the radar for my liking. They took on the title of B-Listers as they embraced being featured by me, Adam B. Check out the AOTW Archives for all the interviews.
