Eric André conducting for the recording of Film Scores For Films That Don’t Exist (Photo credit: James Scott).
Evanescence was brought to life back the early 2000s. Now the alternative rock outfit is six albums deep, with the release of Sanctuary.
The new collection dropped at the stroke of midnight, and houses “Who Will You Follow,” which last month hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs ranking, the rockers’ first leader on the chart since its inception in 2020.
To celebrate the new release, Evanescence extends their world tour with a lap down under in the early stages of 2027. Produced by Live Nation, Evanescence’s arena tour of Australia and New Zealand gets going Friday, March 5 at Perth’s RAC Arena, then heads east for dates in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and wraps up March 20 at Auckland’s Spark Arena. The general onsale starts next Friday, June 12.
Evanescence last toured Australia in late 2025 as special guests on Metallica’s M72 World Tour. Aside from those stadium shows, Amy Lee and Co. played several intimate sideshows. Before that, they celebrated 20 years of their breakthrough debut album Fallen with a tour in August 2023.
As previously reported, the band’s world tour is slated to kick off on June 11 at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Fla., before moving on to Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ontario, Quebec, Indiana, Missouri, Arizona, California, Utah, Ohio and Michigan. The trek will then leap over to the United Kingdom and Europe for summertime gigs in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, as well as shows in Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Later, in 2027, the group will rock audiences across Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America.
Since they burst onto the airwaves more than two decades ago, Evanescence has landed two leaders on the Billboard 200: 2006’s The Open Door and 2011’s Evanescence. Also, they’ve placed five titles on the Billboard Hot 100, including three top 10 appearances, led by their signature song from 2003, “Bring Me To Life,” which peaked at No. 5.
Stream Sanctuary and check out Evanescence’s ANZ dates below.
Evanescence 2027 Tour of Australia and New Zealand:
March 5 — RAC Arena, Perth
March 7 — AEC Arena, Adelaide
March 9 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
March 12 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
March 16 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre
March 20 — Spark Arena, Auckland
For complete tour and ticket information visit livenation.com.au and livenation.co.nz and evanescence.com.
PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI is the fourth season of the survival audition show that brought the world JO1, INI, and ME:I. It will culminate in the debut of a 12-person global boy band with members chosen through voting by Japanese viewers (Kokumin Producers) and, for the first time on the show, global viewers (SEKAI Producers) as well. The announcement of the group’s final members is drawing near, so audiences are watching closely to see how the auditions will turn out.
One area that is drawing even more attention, as the audition excitement ramps up, is the choice of music. Episode 4, which aired on April 9, and Episode 5, which aired on April 16, were a GROUP BATTLE. The 101 trainees were broken up into 16 groups, and each group was assigned one of eight songs, with the two teams assigned the same song competing against each other. Not only were the teams judged on their comprehensive abilities (like their vocals, dance, and rap), but the victors were decided by voting by the audience at the battle site. Tensions were high from the very start, as the trainees found who would be in their groups and what song they’d compete with. Unlike past seasons of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN, the addition of the new FREE Part rules meant that the trainees were able to produce parts of the songs, making their own choreography, performance, and structure decisions. This oft-talked about change meant that their self-production abilities would also be subject to closer scrutiny. Of the songs used in the GROUP BATTLE, JO1’s “Love seeker,” Wanna One’s “Energetic,” and Stray Kids’ “CASE 143” were especially noteworthy because of what happened to their streaming numbers.
JO1’s “Love seeker” saw its streaming numbers rise by 197% in Japan between the week before when PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI aired and the week when it aired. It also had a 197% increase throughout Asia (based on figures from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). Another likely factor was JO1’s solo dome tour JO1DER SHOW 2026 ‘EIEN,’ which had the group performing at Tokyo Dome on April 8 and 9 and Kyocera Dome Osaka on April 22 and 23.
Streaming numbers for Wanna One’s “Energetic” rose by 468% in Japan between the week before the show and the week of the show, and rose by 219% across Asia as a whole. On April 6, Wanna One had its first fan meeting in seven years in Seoul, Korea, and the official reformation of the group is believed to have further boosted these numbers. Stray Kids’ “CASE 143” saw streaming plays go up by 145% in Japan and 124% across Asia, both significant increases. These upswings in streaming figures are likely the outcomes of numerous viewers re-listening to the music used in the show and recalling the passionate, dramatic scenes involving the trainees.
Episode 6, which aired on April 30, and Episode 7, which aired on May 7, were a “POSITION BATTLE: OPEN ROUND.” In dance and vocal groups, the lines between vocal, dance, and rap positions have disappeared. We’ve entered an age of all-rounders, where people aren’t confined by the limits of fixed positions. Because of this, during the OPEN ROUND, the trainees were judged for their self-production abilities, including the arrangements and structures they chose for their songs. All nine teams competed with different songs, and the top two trainees from the first round ranking and the top person for each song of the GROUP BATTLE were selected as leaders.
Of the nine songs used for this round, streaming figure growth was especially prominent for Imagine Dragons’ “Natural,” INI’s “DOMINANCE,” and ZEROBASEONE’s “Doctor! Doctor!” When the show aired, “Natural” saw its streaming plays rise by 199% in Japan vs. the previous week, and by 104% for Asia as a whole. For “DOMINANCE,” streaming plays rose by 167% in Japan and 166% across Asia, and for “Doctor! Doctor!” the figures rose by 218% in Japan and 173% across Asia. All were significant increases. The fact that INI and ZEROBASEONE were headliners at KCON JAPAN 2026, which was held from May 8 to 10 at Makuhari Messe, is likely another reason for the climbing streaming figures.
Imagine Dragons’ “Natural” was chosen by the “Nature Self” team, led by CHISATO (Chisato Kobayashi). YURA (Yura Abe) was chosen as main dancer by unanimous agreement, but he was struggling with his defeat in the previous GROUP BATTLE. Dance trainer Rino Nakasone advised him of the importance of reflecting the song’s message in his performance, saying “The song ’Natural’ is all about not bowing under pressure. Don’t keep it all pent up inside.” This drew a lot of attention to how much the song “Natural” had to say. “Nature Self” was chosen as the standout team, which is likely another reason for the rise in streaming numbers.
The “PUNCH LINERS” team, led by RYUJI (Ryuji Sugiyama), chose INI’s “DOMINANCE.” INI members Rihito Ikezaki, Hiroto Nishi, and Jin Matsuda made surprise appearances 101 SPECIAL BUDDIES, cheering on the trainees and providing valuable advice, which resonated with viewers. O.YUSEI (Yusei Obayashi), who was selected as main rapper, asked to be replaced, but with the encouragement of his team members, took to the stage with a bold performance. In a dramatic turn of events, he was chosen as the top member of the team in field voting.
The “LOVE MANUAL” team, led by K.DAIKI (Daiki Kato), selected ZEROBASEONE’s “Doctor! Doctor!” The team was made up of some of the most popular and skilled members, but vocal trainer Kevin Woo expressed disappointment, saying “You were like the Avengers of the teams, so I was expecting a lot from you, but I’m not seeing teamwork.” The team had hit a wall. INI members Takumi Ozaki, Hiromu Takatsuka, and Kyosuke Fujimaki listened attentively to the team’s concerns and helped them take them on, strengthening and uniting the team. K.DAIKI and main vocalist SHINHAENG (Oh Shinhaeng) led their team with a highly polished performance of “Doctor! Doctor!”
Now audiences cast their minds back, recalling the drama behind the songs used in the show and waiting with bated breath to see who will debut as PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI approaches its conclusion.
—This article by Kaori Komatsu first appeared on Billboard Japan
No challenge, it would seem, is too great for Taylor Swift. By recording “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5, her latest project was a love story a lifetime in the making. No pressure, right?
In recent days, Swift dotted a trail with Toy Story 5 easter eggs, and confirmed what super-fans knew all along with the release at midnight of the original song “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
The track will appear in the latest addition of the beloved animated franchise, and is something of a dream come true. If proof were needed, Swift shared an adorable video of herself as a youngster, dressed as cowgirl Jessie, who lassoed us all in at the start of her journey back in Toy Story 2.
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” Swift writes in a social post. “Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a Toy Story kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
Swift gave a shout out to the “brilliant” Toy Story 5 director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton “for imagining me for this, all those years ago when you wrote this newest film.” And gave a thank-you to “the incomparable” Randy Newman for “the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you’ve meticulously woven over the years.” Newman, she continued, “created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it.”
The “we” includes Swift and her frequent collaborator, producer and “pal” Jack Antonoff, who worked on the single, which she previously revealed was “inspired by the rootin’ tootin’” Jessie.
“We wrote this with so much adoration for these characters that made us laugh and helped us learn lessons and think outside the backyard all throughout our childhoods,” she says of her latest work.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” is Swift’s first release since her hit 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, and arrives ahead of the movie’s June 19 release, through Disney and Pixar.
Starring Tom Hanks (Sheriff Woody) Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear), as well as Joan Cusack returning to voice Jessie, Toy Story 5 will show how Andy’s old toys come to grips with a new electronic tablet taking over the attention of their current owner, Bonnie.
Phoebe Bridgers is finally back, but only on her terms. Following a series of small, top secret pop-up shows across the country, the indie rock idol just played her biggest solo concert in years at Madison Square Garden — under the strict condition that the thousands of fans in New York City lock away their phones in special pouches and discard of any writing utensils upon entry.
Such precautions were put in place to prevent any of Bridgers’ unreleased material — much of which she played Thursday night (June 4) — from winding up online ahead of her yet-to-be-announced, widely rumored third solo album. Even allowing journalists on the premises was major, as media hadn’t had access to her prior hush-hush acoustic sets in southern and midwestern America over the past few weeks.
But after securing promises that no new song titles or lyrics would be published in post-show coverage, her team allowed Billboard into the arena to witness exactly what magic Bridgers has been brewing after spending about two years out of the spotlight, and three times that amount of time without releasing a followup to her sophomore effort, Punisher.
She did not disappoint. Now approaching her solo work with the experiences of earning critical acclaim for her part in Boygenius’ phenomenal The Album, opening for Taylor Swift’s billion-dollar box office smash Eras Tour and winning more awards than any other nominee at the 2024 Grammys behind her, she effortlessly caught her audience up to speed with stripped-down renditions of eight unreleased songs from her next project, performed on a tiny stage decked out with a simple couch, lava lamps and a small vintage TV. She had just two other musicians up there with her: Christian Lee Hutson on guitar and Nick White on keyboards.
The songs touched on the deterioration of love and how love changes shape, on going into hiding but wanting now to re-emerge, and on the desire to improve as a person, even if she might not know how just yet. The idea of death has always been laced into Bridgers’ music in a conceptual way, but now, she seems more interested in examining her own mortality, whether its the relationships and patterns that test it or the uncertainty of how her limited time left will be spent. Her parents make cameos throughout the music, with one particularly painful song addressed directly to her late father, elaborating on the complications of her relationship with him that she’s previously only ever hinted at in her music.
Bridgers also isn’t interested right now in playing for people who don’t support one cause in particular she’s passionate about. Aside from press, the thousands of fans in MSG were able to attend by winning seats via a lottery system, and those who were selected were required to donate as little as $1 to the Immigration Bond Freedom Fund assisting people who’ve been detained and deported under the Trump administration. “I hate those ICE idiots,” Bridgers said while thanking the crowd for contributing, quipping also that America’s immigration enforcement officers are like “cops squared.”
But overall, the night — and mini “tour” as a whole — was a chance for Bridgers to reintroduce herself to her truest fans before she makes a larger comeback later this year. As put by one person up front while as she slammed on the strings of her guitar during the most intense part of opening number “Motion Sickness,” while the audience sang every word: “We’re so back.”
Check out some of the best moments from Bridgers’ top-secret MSG show below.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
Last week, we featured Ariana Grande, Labrinth, aespa and more.
This week: Taylor Swift’s much-teased Toy Story 5 song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” arrives ahead of the film; Niall Horan serves up the main course with his new album Dinner Party; and Tinashe teases her next chapter with a new single… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Taylor Swift, “I Knew It, I Knew You”
After dropping a basketful of easter eggs, Taylor Swift confirmed this week that fans “knew it” all along when her came to her musical involvement on Toy Story 5. She wrote on Instagram, “I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie.” And on release night, she uploaded a video of her young self dressed much like Jessie, who inspired “I Knew It, I Knew You.” While the song was teased by Disney as a return to Swift’s country roots, the production does fittingly tap into the genre, though her vocals are distinctly modern-era — resulting in a track that “felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” as she wrote in the caption of her cowgirl clip. “Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once.”
Role Model, “High Hopes 3000“
This week, Role Model shared the first taste of new music post-“Sally” virality (“Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” became his first Billboard charting hit, eventually reaching No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay, thanks in part to a live show gimmick in which celebrity guests became each evening’s designated Sally). After announcing his forthcoming third album, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass, the artist dropped lead single “High Hopes 3000” that explores the same country-inspired folk-pop landscape of his last album, Kansas Anymore. The new song tugs at a similar lyrical thread, too, with Role Model questioning his faith in finding love. “I need some high hopes, Lord knows I could use ’em…They say I’m unappealing when I shoot my shot/ Come here, honey, don’t know how to do it/ Does love come around or does one come around to it?” Tune in to find out.
Niall Horan, “Tastes So Good”
Niall Horan’s fourth solo album, Dinner Party, arrives today and delivers on its title — offering up a delectable soundtrack perfect for any intimate gathering over food and drink. “Tastes So Good” in particular plays into the title as well as the overarching theme of the album — being in love — by describing just how smitten he is. “Can’t take another breath without you/ Can’t walk down the street/ No, I don’t know what you’re made of/ But it tastes so good to me.” With a line like that, who needs to see a menu? We’ll have what he’s having.
Tinashe, “Too Easy”
Following an appearance at Coachella’s DoLab in April, Tinashe is back — and she’s letting friend and foe know it. The bouncy “Too Easy” is coated in confidence, as she sings, “If you’re mad, then go to therapy/ I can’t help that I make it look so easy.” The clubby pop track clocks in at just under two minutes, only further proving that Tinashe really does have this locked; it sends a message to listeners, too, because it really is that easy to hit replay on a song this sticky.
Ryan Beatty, “Secret Language”
Alternative singer-songwriter Ryan Beatty was once a quiet force behind the scenes, offering backing vocals on BROCKHAMPTON projects among other collaborations. But his 2023 album, Calico, changed his career, becoming critically acclaimed and boosting his exposure — so much so, that Beyoncé came calling. Beatty co-wrote a handful of songs on Cowboy Carter, winning him his first Grammy as the project took home album of the year in 2025. Now, he’s teasing his fourth solo album, Sweet Fortune, out later this month. The sweet and serene lead single, “Secret Language,” shows off his tender writing, hinting at how his silence can say more than words ever could get across: “I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a mess/ ’cause I’m fragile and tired/ wounded and weak/ and my words are a useless defense.”
Yung Miami recently sat down with former NFL star Cam Newton for his YouTube show Funky Fridays and told a funny story of the time she tried to get Drake on a song while he was in the middle of his beef with Kendrick Lamar and Metro Boomin back in 2024.
“I got a song called ‘Take Me to Chanel’ and I was trying to get him on the song,” she recalled. “I remember DM’ing him, but that was at the time when he was going through all his sh–. And when people going through they sh–, like, I get it, I understand. … But I DM’d him like, ‘Drake, I think you’ll sound good on ‘Take Me to Chanel.’ He just liked the message like come on, now, don’t do that! Drake, don’t do that now ’cause when you called me I was there! But, nah, I f— with Drake, I understand.”
She then added that she’s hyped for ICEMAN and Drake’s return to rap’s forefront. “I’m excited. I love Drake, she began before explaining why. “He’s so special that it’s like his music is like, ‘You gotta know to know.’ He’ll say some sh– and it’s like what made him … he’s clever. And I just love how he does his interludes. He’ll go and get a soundbite and blow it up, and he’s gonna show you love. It just be little things like that. And he just always got one. You can play Drake at a graduation, any function and you’re gonna feel good.”
Yung Miami and her former City Girls bandmate JT lent their vocals to the Toronto rapper’s 2018 smash hit “In My Feelings” — a 10-week No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and she also talked about how it helped launch their careers. “That was the breakthrough for the City Girls,” she said. “I would never forget that phone call that we got like, ‘Drake wants y’all on his album.’ And it was like April Fool’s Day. This gotta be a joke and it was like, ‘Nah, y’all gotta come to the studio, we gotta play the record.’ And we press play and it’s like Drake saying our names.”
You can watch the full interview below.
Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks sit three wins away from the immortality of clinching the franchise’s first championship in 53 years after a Game 1 victory in the NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.
With Knicks fever at an all-time high in NYC, prices for the cheapest seats at Madison Square Garden are going for a staggering $7,500 each on resale markets for Game 3, when the NBA Finals returns to the Big Apple for the first time this century next week.
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Brunson was asked during his media availability on Thursday (June 4) if there was any artist he’d pay that astronomical amount of cash to see perform in concert. For JB, there’s one artist: none other than the King of Pop. “That’s a good question. A live Michael Jackson performance,” Brunson told The Associated Press.
Obviously, that wouldn’t be possible for Brunson, as Michael Jackson died in June 2009. MJ has been back in the news in a major way in recent months, as the King of Pop’s Michael biopic has been a smash hit at the box office since being released on April 24.
According to The Numbers via ScreenRant, the blockbuster has grossed a staggering $856.5 million globally as of June 2. Jackson is played by his nephew, Jaafar Jackson, who stars in the role as the legendary musician.
Brunson led the Knicks with 30 points to steal Game 1 105-95 against the Spurs on the road. Plenty of NYC celebrities made the trip to support the blue and orange, including Fat Joe, Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller and Timothée Chalamet.
Game 2 is slated for Friday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Watch the clip of Brunson below.
As the boundary-smashing, beyond over-the-top talent behind Adult Swim’s long-running The Eric Andre Show, comedian and actor Eric André has presided over some of the more bizarre, surreal pranks, stunts and hilariously cringe moments to ever be aired on television.
But André’s latest project might just manage to stun his audience even further. Under the not-so-serious name of BLARF, André has just released a surprisingly serious album of classical music, Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist (out now on Stones Throw Records). A collaboration with composer Prateek Rajagopal, the album features eight pieces for full orchestra, ranging from the silly (“1869 Overture,” essentially a very out-of-tune take on Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”) to the quite beautiful (“Stars Without Light”), which riff on both film score archetypes and the composers who write them.
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André is, in fact, no goofy novice: Before he pivoted to comedy, he was a serious upright bass player who attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music (where he also studied conducting — a skill he recently put to use in front of an orchestra at the only concert of this music thus far, at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall in late April).
“This is like a big wish fulfillment thing for me,” André says of making Film Scores. “I’m just happy that it came together, and I have so much gratitude towards Prateek for pushing it along all the way.” He spoke to Billboard about his conservatory past, conducting an orchestra in Hungary, and what’s next for BLARF.
You told Pitchfork of your first BLARF album, 2019’s Cease and Desist, “I dare you to get through six minutes of it, it’s f—in’ unlistenable.” I wouldn’t say the same of this one!
I think I always wanted to make a completely different album each time. I’ve only made two [BLARF] albums, so you won’t notice that that agenda until, like, I have three, four or five albums. Comedy is a full-time job, so this is just passion project stuff and I don’t have time to crank out that much, but I always wanted to. I started doing comedy when I was 20 years old, like halfway through college, and then I just pivoted to it, but I always wanted to continue to make music, not for any kind of commercial success attempt, more just for my own creative gratification.
How do you know when it’s time to do a new BLARF project?
I’m constantly doing it in the background between gigs — they just take a while to complete, and then I release them upon completion. I’m still making new music now; I’m trying to make new hip-hop loops on Ableton, I’m trying to get into Detroit house and ghetto tech and some more jazz stuff. Prateek, who I made the album with, just scored a Bollywood movie, and I was like, “Whoa!” I was frustrated we didn’t put any Bollywood stuff or Indian instrumentation on the album, and we didn’t put any really jazz stuff on the album. So I’ve already been thinking about jazz composition, and then going back more to electronic stuff, because it’s just way easier to produce than dealing with orchestras. [Laughs]
How did you and Prateek first link up?
So, originally Ludwig Göransson was gonna do the score for [André’s 2021 Netflix film] Bad Trip. Ludwig got very busy because he’s like, on his third Oscar, and his [creative] partner at the time, Joseph Shirley, kind of took over on Bad Trip; then Joseph worked on the Trolls movie, and I worked on the Trolls movie, and he’s a very lovely, very talented guy. And I love film scores; I love Ennio Morricone, film music is very emotional, it’s like a neglected part of the record section. [I told him how] I always get these ideas for compositions, and asked, could he help me? And he’s also incredibly successful and busy and has kids, so he’s like, “I would love to, but I can’t even keep up with the actual work that I need to get done, but I have this like protege Prateek who’s like a musical wizard.”
Prateek was just very young and hungry and incredibly talented and just knows every genre of music so well — there’s no task insurmountable for him, he thrives under pressure and stress and loves a challenge, so he was very invested early on, and very enthusiastic. I wouldn’t have finished the project if it wasn’t for Prateek.
What was your collaboration like?
I started out with voice notes and ideas for compositions, and then I’d go to Prateek’s office and studio, and he would put out like a mini demo version of what I would kind of sing to him through these voice memos, and the suggested orchestration, and then we’d sit in his studio and just figure out where the song wants to go, where it wants to be. Sometimes we were stumped: “What’s For Dinner” ends on this death metal stuff just because we couldn’t figure out an ending to it. So, as a joke, we were like, “I don’t know, let’s do a death metal ending!” And then I found out in real time that Prateek was into metal and in an Indian death metal band. His band is amazing, I had no idea. That kind of metal is very technical. Jazz, classical and metal people are gluttons for punishment.
He wasn’t just a co-composer who helped me flesh out these wisps of ideas that I had, but he was also kind of like a showrunner, a producer, making sure, like, we found an orchestra in Budapest, Hungary. He was constantly pushing everybody to do this the right way, not necessarily the cheap way.
Were you stepping up and conducting the orchestra in Hungary?
Most of the orchestra, while we were recording, was conducted by their conductor, but I stepped in a little bit, and then when we did the live show [in Los Angeles], I conducted. Conducting is not as hard as playing upright bass — that was more nerve-wracking for me.
What was that whole dynamic like? What did the orchestra players make of you?
I think it was a combination of intrigue and confusion from the top to bottom of the process. But I love conducting. I love Fantasia, Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny were my first, like, conductor idols. I took conducting class in school, and I loved my teacher, Francisco Noya — he was very like, spiritual about his conducting, he was just a total character, a very memorable professor. He’d be very intense when he taught class, but he was actually very soft and sweet.
I love having an orchestra at [my] disposal. I was very high on it. It was like those astronauts that go out into space and they’re in such a trance, like, “When am I ever going to get to do this again?” and they’re just like taking in the glory of the universe. It was a total dream come true.
Did you think of all these pieces as being one big score for a film or more individual things?
No, I thought they each go with their own movie. The first one [“The Final Shootout”] is like a spaghetti Western. “Mercury Dripping Down My Spine” goes over like, an Ari Aster or Panos Cosmatos [horror] movie. The other challenge was like, how do I find comedic value in instrumental music — like without words, how do you achieve a comedic effect?
Some of the pieces do feel outright funny, but the majority start out sounding like they’ll go in one direction and by the end definitely become something more unexpected — for instance on “Piano Concerto No. 0,” it sounds like you’re literally murdering the piano at the end.
I’d get so frustrated practicing piano when I was little that I would throw my piano books on the ground if I would get to like, a Mozart passage that would stump me. When I got older, one of my professors, Whip Browne, would always say, “Practice slow, learn fast; practice fast, learn slow,” and that’s the greatest piece of advice for any temporal art… I have to remind myself of that every day. [But] I used to have these dark fantasies about destroying my instruments all the time, and once you’re playing stringed instruments, the better you get the more expensive they get. So it felt so carthartic just like, taking an axe to a piano and setting it on a fire.
Wait — so you are literally destroying a piano?
Yeah, I really destroyed a piano, a cheap upright we found through like a free curb alert on Craigslist. I love John Cage and how he would tamper with the piano strings, so I wanted to hear how it would sound taking an ax to the strings. There was one time on The Eric Andre Show that I think I stomped on a few cellos, and I remember the art department was like, “Did you feel good doing that? These are works of art!” I was like, I feel great doing it! We got like, cheap Sam Ash cellos. I wasn’t like, stomping on a Stradivarius.
I saw the video of you walking around asking people to listen to the music and say what kind of film they think it’s for. What’s the strangest story anyone’s told you?
I don’t even think most people get that far. People are like, you compose classical music?! At the front door, they’re like, what?! So I have to go into basically everything I’ve been saying to you for the past 45 minutes. They can’t even get past level one [laughs]. You saw the best answers! Closest friends are like, you play music? You compose music? I’m talking not even comedians or people in the public eye, just like drinking buddies who are like, you didn’t bring that up? I dunno, you didn’t ask!
So we’ve established that there’s a lot of film footage that you need to get on, but other than that, what is next for this iteration of BLARF? Do you want to do more concerts?
Yeah, I’d love to do more concerts. We’re going to edit together the concert that we did do and hopefully we can sell it to a streaming service or put it on YouTube. When that comes out, I actually think that the album will almost be supplemental to the special. My Netflix special is a stand-up comedy special, my HBO special is an Eric Andre Show live special, and then this special, whatever platform it’s on, it’s going to be like an orchestral music special, so I like having that evolution of changing the medium for each of my specials. So that’s kind of next up on my musical agenda.
Jim Jones has an interesting theory when it comes to Jay-Z‘s “Roots Picnic Freestyle” that has set the rap world on fire.
During a recent episode of his YouTube show IFC News, the former Roc-A-Fella affiliate (he never had a solo deal with the imprint) stated that he thinks that Jay-Z “spared” those affected and that it’s just a warm-up in preparation of Jigga’s upcoming run of shows at Yankee Stadium in July.
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“I will say this,” the Harlem rapper began. “Outta everything I’ve heard — from my experiences and seeing him engaged throughout the years — he spared them a little bit. He didn’t even hit them with too much. … He still managed to obliterate a lot of people. But let’s see what happens. A callout is a callout. You say somebody’s name, it goes on forever, no matter who starts it.”
He then added that he expects a freestyle when he kicks off his three-show run in the Bronx next month. “I wanna see the Yankee Stadium freestyle,” he said. “I think that’s when he’s gonna turn up. The Roots Picnic was cool, but I do believe the Yankee Stadium freestyle will be something like the Martin Luther King ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”
Jim has first-hand experience battling Jay-Z and he’s been on both sides. He and his fellow Diplomat members Cam’ron and Juelz Santana were signed to Roc-A-Fella during the Nas beef where they obviously sided with their label boss. However, he also found himself going up against Jay after he criticized his Def Jam presidency during an episode of BET’s Rap City, which then led to Jigga jacking the “We Fly High” beat to respond.
You can watch the entire episode below.
Five years ago, the idea of Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter linking up in the studio would’ve been outrageous — but you never know what the future holds.
In her new Dazed cover story interview, Rodrigo was asked about whether she’d ever work on a song with her fellow Gen-Z pop star, and she didn’t shoot it down. “Oh, gosh,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, I’m open … I’m open to all types of collaboration.”
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alum also named the artists she personally dreams of teaming up with. “I’ve been listening to a lot of PJ Harvey lately. And Fiona Apple,” she told the publication. “I think those two were just doing something so special and raw and unfiltered. I would love to meet and hang with them.”
It’s not the first time someone has asked Rodrigo about Carpenter recently. Half a decade ago, the two ladies were thrown together in the center of public discourse after Rodrigo released 2021 debut single “Drivers License,” which describes how an ex broke up with her to be with “that blonde girl,” whom fans determined to be Carpenter. In response, the Girl Meets World star dropped tracks such as “Skin” and “Because I Liked a Boy.”
But now, Rodrigo says of Carpenter, “I think she’s great,” as told to British Vogue in March. “I’m so happy for all of her success too. I love the album she’s put out … people just get weird and clickbaity. It’s all love, though. I’ve talked to her many times.”
As for whether she’d work with Lorde — someone whom Rodrigo has cited many times as a musical hero — she told Dazed, “Oh yeah, she’s amazing. Pure Heroine definitely informed the way I think about songwriting. I love the new record she put out.”
See Rodrigo on the cover of Dazed below.
