Nostalgia is a bankable commodity, a fact that television is making exceedingly evident. The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell writes about the influx of revivals of cult TV shows, both forthcoming ones like Gilmore Girls, Twin Peaks, and The X-Files as well as recent attempts like 90210, Melrose Place, and the proposed-but-quickly-shut-down reboot of Coach, in relation to the advent of on-demand, prone-to-bingeing streaming services like Netflix: “None of the early experiments in reheated TV has become a break-out hit. But in TV, a land where every meager success is formulized, the reboots are seen as cheap bets, with often low-risk premises, washed-up stars and built-in cores of superfans.”
Sam Smith stopped by BBC Radio 1 to chat with Annie Mac and promote the deluxe “Drowning Shadows” edition of his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, available tomorrow. In addition to B-sides and remixes, one of the new tracks he recorded for the re-release was a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game,” which he performed live. The cover was inspired by his recent viewing of Asif Kapadia’s Amy documentary; recalling Winehouse’s debut album, Frank, Smith said: “Seeing that film brought me back to that moment of being 11-years-old—her rawness on such beautiful chords, on such expensive chords.”
Music is often enhanced by visuals and Meow the Jewels, Run the Jewel’s Kickstarter-funded cat-centric remix of 2014’s Run the Jewels II, is no exception. El-P and Killer Mike have released a music video for the second single, “All Meow Life (Nick Hook Remix),” an amusing (and adorable!) compilation directed by Jason Goldwich of different cat .gifs and videos synched to the song. Though Meow the Jewels is already available for free to download and on streaming services like Spotify, there is also Vinyl edition that will be available at the end of November but can be pre-ordered now.
Republican frontrunner Ben Carson wants black people to vote for him in the 2016 presidential election, which makes his upcoming campaign tactics all the more puzzling: according to ABC news, Carson has spent $150,000 on a 60-second “rap”/advertisement that will begin airing tomorrow on the “urban” radio stations in eight key markets: Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Birmingham, Alabama, Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas. The track is called “Freedom” and features Christian rapper Aspiring Mogul, but he acts more like a hype-man that bookends Carson’s excerpted stump speech. Not exactly flawless.