F

Flavorwire

Lana Del Rey

Celebrity

In Defense of Lip-Synching: 5 Artists Who Could Have Used the Help

By Caroline Stanley on

Everyone is freaking out because Beyoncé lip-synched “The Star-Spangled Banner” at yesterday’s inauguration; you can even compare a clip of her rehearsing with the final version. As Kristin DuBois, a representative for the United States Marine Band, explained, “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyoncé was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”

Interesting. But if history has shown us anything, it’s that when you’re performing at a major public event, sometimes erring on the side of pre-recorded caution can be a good thing. Don’t believe us? Here’s all the proof you need. … Read More

Music

Hipster Glasses, Facebook, and a Kiki: A Skeptic's Guide to Pop in 2012

By Rohin Guha on

With only days left until the end of 2012, the Internet is full of best-of essays and lists and embeddable Spotify playlists that reaffirm critics’ and tastemakers’ street credit and perpetuate the myth that most people writing about music actually have any kind of significant impact on the way that pop music is created, packaged, and sold. I won’t bore you with such gas. Instead, here are some fun superlatives that summarize the world of pop this year, for those of you who may not have kept up with this realm. These are undeniable touchstones — meaning that should you, as esteemed people with ears, have scruples with this list, it would behoove you to make an appointment with a qualified audiologist post-haste. Otherwise, read! Click! Dance! … Read More

Music

The Year in Memorable Musical Controversies

By Tom Hawking on

2012 has been a crazy year in many ways, and the music industry hasn’t exactly been immune to its air of pervading insanity. (In fairness, the music industry is rarely immune to any sort of insanity, but still, humor us here.) This year has given us a particularly rich vein of memorable controversies, conflicts, and contretemps, and as part of our ongoing end-of-year wrap-up, we’re looking back at some of the most significant. Some of these are hilarious, some of them depressing, some of them hilariously depressing, and some just plain old bewildering — but from the resurrection of dead rappers through homeless people functioning as wifi hotspots to a record company suing an entire country, all of them have been worth remembering. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we celebrated Movember with these celebrity mustache mash-ups. We explored the thirteen best vagina/food metaphors of song. We vowed to play the 100 best video games of all time. We became obsessed with skydiving cats. We watched one man read Fifty Shades… Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we cringed at the worst movie betrayals. We browsed this history of the Presidential campaign told through 100 objects. We read Beyoncé’s brief, blunt message to Romney supporters. We liked F. Scott Fitzgerald’s advice to his 11-year-old daughter, Scottie. We wondered if the fashion… Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we visited Occupy Wall Street one year later. We spotted a Civil War-era Louis C.K. lookalike. We watched a Rocky Horror spoof featuring Ronald Reagan as Frank-N-Furter. We saw an alternate version of the Indiana Jones sword fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark.… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Katy Perry and John Mayer are reportedly no longer dating, but will remain friends. Do you think any interesting songs will come out of their brief affair?

2. Retired cyclist Lance Armstrong has decided not to fight the charges that he currently faces from the US Anti-Doping Agency, which means he’s likely… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. The People’s List, a readers’ poll of the best albums of Pitchfork’s first 15 years, is now live here, with a top ten that includes Radiohead three separate times.

2. For reasons that are very unclear to us, Disney has decided that it’s a good idea to reboot The Rocketeer. [via… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. “You do know the song is about my Vagina right? ‘Throw down your umbilical noose so i can climb right back,’ umm… On top of which some of the lyrics about my vagina I contributed. So umm next time you sing it, think about my vagina will you?” — Courtney Love tweeted… Read More

Music

Lana Del Rey, Please Put the Microphone Down and Step Away from Nirvana

By Judy Berman on

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got some bad news for you. In fact, nothing we can say will make this easier, so we’re just going to tell it to you straight out: Lana Del Rey has covered Nirvana. And there’s video. Spin has discovered a clip of the singer performing “Heart-Shaped Box” in Sydney, Australia last night. It seems unfair to go too deep into the fan-shot footage, but we will say that she does this song pretty much the same way Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to JFK, and that she doesn’t really stretch her voice to hit any of Cobain’s throat-ripping notes until the very end.

Listen, we don’t want to hate you, Lana Del Rey. We just want you to stop doing stuff like this so we can all get on with our lives. … Read More