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As you may know, we live in our media zone. So we've decided to wheel out a new concept called The Backspace Brief; we’re aggregating ten news stories in pop culture that we think you should know about every Thursday morning for a read in under five minutes. From the ultra-serious to the batshit crazy. Check out our Rolling News on our homepage and throughout our site and our Instagram Story for more news.
Meatloaf Becomes a Symbol for the Antivax Movement: “If I Die I Die” - Meat Loaf went out the way the world knew him, with high theatricality. Since TMZ reported in the middle of the night on Thursday that Meat had died, his streams have gone up 2583%. Despite there being no verification as of yet that the singer/actor was unvaccinated or in fact did die from COVID after reports confirmed that he had cancelled a dinner after coming down with the virus, he’s become something of a martyr for the antivax movement. His later career hit “I’d Do Anything for Love” has started being used at rallies like Sunday’s in Washington, supposedly in a symbolic gesture against mandates. Meat spoke out against mandates just last August with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette boldly stating that “if I die, I die.”
YouTuber Tasha K Owes Cardi B $4 Million - On Monday, after nearly three years of litigation, Cardi B successfully sued YouTube personality Tasha K for her “malicious” campaign to damage and destroy her reputation. The YouTuber had made dozens of videos containing false hate statements directed at the rapper including that she had been a prostitute, used hard drugs, has herpes, and performed a sex act using a beer bottle during her time as a dancer. She’s been sued for $1.5 million in punitive damages, $1 million in general damages and will have to pay nearly $1.4 million and for Cardi’s legal fees. During the trial Cardi testified that she felt suicidal and called any creator of such video evil. In a statement given after, she addressed the broader problems of online misinformation and cyber bullying.
Neil Young Pulls his Music From Spotify - In an open letter published to his website and since-removed, songwriting legend Neil Young threatened to remove all of his recordings from Spotify in protest of the Joe Rogan Show and what many consider the program’s spread of misinformation regarding vaccines. Young contracted polio as a child, greatly effecting his health and incurring an intense medical process.
As of Wednesday evening, Neil Young’s available music on Spotify has been drastically reduced to two singles and one live album. A rep from Spotify confirmed to Variety that Neil Young’s music was being removed from the platform.
Bob Dylan’s $200 million Recording Catalogue Moves to Sony - After they quietly reached a deal last summer, Bob Dylan sold the rights of his entire catalogue to Sony, the owner of his longtime label Columbia.
The deal reported by Variety considers Dylan’s 39 studio albums, 16 official bootlegs, and future releases. It does not include the rights to his lyrics and compositions which UMG bought in December 2020 for $400 million (holy shit Bob Dylan you’re rich). Billboard estimates Dylan’s recordings are worth $200 million or more based off their annual revenue, around $16 million worldwide. Columbia in a possible show of celebration, bought Dylan a 1959 Chevy Impala for his 80th birthday last year.
When We Were Young Sells Out Two Dates and Adds a Third; Faces Backlash - Emo festival When We Young, which takes place this October on Las Vegas Festival Ground has taken over the circuit’s attention since its announcement last week. Some have sparked concern after questioning safety concerns and if the festival in its first carnation will equal a potential logistical nightmare in the vein of Astroworld or Fyre Fest.
TikTok user @thebatmer questioned how the festival lineup’s 65 bands could be allotted sufficient playing time between three stages in just one 12-hour day. Others seemed skeptical of the $224.99 non-refundable ticket. After Newsweek ran a story that redundantly pointed out that the same organizers of Astroworld, Live Nation who control nearly all of the live syndicate in North America, were the people behind WWWY, a spokesperson responded directly with a statement: "The safety of fans, artists and staff is thoroughly planned for among event organizers and in coordination with local authorities.”
Zoomer Media Acquires Blog TO - Zoomer, the company that owns CP24, City TV, and a host of other digital, print, and radio assets has acquired all shares of Freshdaily, the owner and publisher of BlogTO, the leading digital source for Toronto news and lifestyle. The move announced via press release statement claims the acquisition will add 350 million + page views per year to Zoomer’s current bracket of 50 million.
The Euphoria Discourse Keeps Spinning as the Show Pulls in Streaming Records for HBO - Euphoria seems to keep pulling in new viewers, with their excellent second season premier bringing in 2.4 million viewers, then beating it with 2.6 million before raising the number by 40% on Sunday for its third episode with 3.6 million.
The controversial teen drama produced by HBO has brought the usual discourse with rumours of a rift between Barbie Ferreira and creator Sam Levinson which has caused her scenes to be drastically reduced. Then in an interview given to The Independent, Sydney Sweeney who plays the salacious and deep Cassie Howard by praising Levinson for being receptive to suggestion, revealed that she had to ask him to remove nude scenes which she deemed narratively unnecessary (Sweeney has appeared nude in all three episodes of this season so far).
The show’s depiction of drug use has also come under fire, with archaic American institution and Reagan administrative weapon D.A.R.E. accusing the show’s glorification of drugs as advocacy and inviting the show’s producers (which include A24, Drake, and Zendaya) to meet with the organization’s “high school-aged Youth Advocacy Board.”
Taylor Swift Calls Out Damon Albarn - Taylor Swift responded on Twitter to Damon Albarn after the Blur and Gorillaz frontman made claims in a Los Angeles Times interview that she does not write her own songs. After the interviewer stated that she cowrites some of them, Albarn retorted that this “doesn’t count.” Swift called the comments false and damaging before sarcastically reply tweeting that she had written the tweet by herself as well. Albarn apologized and blamed the interviewer later in the evening. Taylor Swift currently holds 54 writing credits as a sole songwriter.
As you may know, we live in our media zone. So we've decided to wheel out a new concept called The Backspace Brief; we’re aggregating ten news stories in pop culture that we think you should know about every Thursday morning for a read in under five minutes. From the ultra-serious to the batshit crazy. Check out our Rolling News on our homepage and throughout our site and our Instagram Story for more news.
Meatloaf Becomes a Symbol for the Antivax Movement: “If I Die I Die” - Meat Loaf went out the way the world knew him, with high theatricality. Since TMZ reported in the middle of the night on Thursday that Meat had died, his streams have gone up 2583%. Despite there being no verification as of yet that the singer/actor was unvaccinated or in fact did die from COVID after reports confirmed that he had cancelled a dinner after coming down with the virus, he’s become something of a martyr for the antivax movement. His later career hit “I’d Do Anything for Love” has started being used at rallies like Sunday’s in Washington, supposedly in a symbolic gesture against mandates. Meat spoke out against mandates just last August with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette boldly stating that “if I die, I die.”
YouTuber Tasha K Owes Cardi B $4 Million - On Monday, after nearly three years of litigation, Cardi B successfully sued YouTube personality Tasha K for her “malicious” campaign to damage and destroy her reputation. The YouTuber had made dozens of videos containing false hate statements directed at the rapper including that she had been a prostitute, used hard drugs, has herpes, and performed a sex act using a beer bottle during her time as a dancer. She’s been sued for $1.5 million in punitive damages, $1 million in general damages and will have to pay nearly $1.4 million and for Cardi’s legal fees. During the trial Cardi testified that she felt suicidal and called any creator of such video evil. In a statement given after, she addressed the broader problems of online misinformation and cyber bullying.
Neil Young Pulls his Music From Spotify - In an open letter published to his website and since-removed, songwriting legend Neil Young threatened to remove all of his recordings from Spotify in protest of the Joe Rogan Show and what many consider the program’s spread of misinformation regarding vaccines. Young contracted polio as a child, greatly effecting his health and incurring an intense medical process.
As of Wednesday evening, Neil Young’s available music on Spotify has been drastically reduced to two singles and one live album. A rep from Spotify confirmed to Variety that Neil Young’s music was being removed from the platform.
Bob Dylan’s $200 million Recording Catalogue Moves to Sony - After they quietly reached a deal last summer, Bob Dylan sold the rights of his entire catalogue to Sony, the owner of his longtime label Columbia.
The deal reported by Variety considers Dylan’s 39 studio albums, 16 official bootlegs, and future releases. It does not include the rights to his lyrics and compositions which UMG bought in December 2020 for $400 million (holy shit Bob Dylan you’re rich). Billboard estimates Dylan’s recordings are worth $200 million or more based off their annual revenue, around $16 million worldwide. Columbia in a possible show of celebration, bought Dylan a 1959 Chevy Impala for his 80th birthday last year.
When We Were Young Sells Out Two Dates and Adds a Third; Faces Backlash - Emo festival When We Young, which takes place this October on Las Vegas Festival Ground has taken over the circuit’s attention since its announcement last week. Some have sparked concern after questioning safety concerns and if the festival in its first carnation will equal a potential logistical nightmare in the vein of Astroworld or Fyre Fest.
TikTok user @thebatmer questioned how the festival lineup’s 65 bands could be allotted sufficient playing time between three stages in just one 12-hour day. Others seemed skeptical of the $224.99 non-refundable ticket. After Newsweek ran a story that redundantly pointed out that the same organizers of Astroworld, Live Nation who control nearly all of the live syndicate in North America, were the people behind WWWY, a spokesperson responded directly with a statement: "The safety of fans, artists and staff is thoroughly planned for among event organizers and in coordination with local authorities.”
Zoomer Media Acquires Blog TO - Zoomer, the company that owns CP24, City TV, and a host of other digital, print, and radio assets has acquired all shares of Freshdaily, the owner and publisher of BlogTO, the leading digital source for Toronto news and lifestyle. The move announced via press release statement claims the acquisition will add 350 million + page views per year to Zoomer’s current bracket of 50 million.
The Euphoria Discourse Keeps Spinning as the Show Pulls in Streaming Records for HBO - Euphoria seems to keep pulling in new viewers, with their excellent second season premier bringing in 2.4 million viewers, then beating it with 2.6 million before raising the number by 40% on Sunday for its third episode with 3.6 million.
The controversial teen drama produced by HBO has brought the usual discourse with rumours of a rift between Barbie Ferreira and creator Sam Levinson which has caused her scenes to be drastically reduced. Then in an interview given to The Independent, Sydney Sweeney who plays the salacious and deep Cassie Howard by praising Levinson for being receptive to suggestion, revealed that she had to ask him to remove nude scenes which she deemed narratively unnecessary (Sweeney has appeared nude in all three episodes of this season so far).
The show’s depiction of drug use has also come under fire, with archaic American institution and Reagan administrative weapon D.A.R.E. accusing the show’s glorification of drugs as advocacy and inviting the show’s producers (which include A24, Drake, and Zendaya) to meet with the organization’s “high school-aged Youth Advocacy Board.”
Taylor Swift Calls Out Damon Albarn - Taylor Swift responded on Twitter to Damon Albarn after the Blur and Gorillaz frontman made claims in a Los Angeles Times interview that she does not write her own songs. After the interviewer stated that she cowrites some of them, Albarn retorted that this “doesn’t count.” Swift called the comments false and damaging before sarcastically reply tweeting that she had written the tweet by herself as well. Albarn apologized and blamed the interviewer later in the evening. Taylor Swift currently holds 54 writing credits as a sole songwriter.
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