Standing up to Peer Pressure, One Song at a Time
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OCTOBER 2016 WRITING LYRICS BACHATA A Practical The Dominican Guide Music’s Rise to Global Fame LISTENING GUIDE Prince’s NOT FOR “When Doves ALESSIA Cry” DISTRIBUTIONCARA Standing Up to Peer Pressure, One Song at THE a Time MINIMOOG MODEL D October 2016 $2.99 Vol. 36 No. 1 Back to the Future UPC 884088547639 OCTOBER 2016 • VOL. 36, NO. 1 IN THIS ISSUE Ocean 4 MUSIC NOTES News & novelties Makes 6 LYRICS A practical guide to writing Waves lyrics With the release of two albums in two 10 BACHATA days, Frank Ocean A history of the Dominican folk music has taken his audience and the music industry 14 COVER STORY Alessia Cara by surprise. 16 SONG OF THE MONTH “Wild Things” by Alessia Cara 18 LISTENING GUIDE “When Doves Cry” NOT FOR by Prince 20 COOL CAREERS Jam Records. Only two days later, Ocean indepen- , Dr. Robert Thompson s the music industry continues to dently released a second full-length album, Blonde President, Music Sales Group adapt to changes in technology, which has since hit No. 1. record labels and artists are con- Both albums were released as streaming 22 NOW PLAYING stantly looking for new ways to sell online exclusives on Apple Music. But because of isn’t for sale—which The Minimoog ModelDISTRIBUTION D their work. One recent method has its unusual format, Endless been the “streaming online exclusive”: By releas- O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 A has left Def Jam a bit empty-handed and seems to ing music exclusively to an online subscription make both Apple and Ocean bigger winners than streaming service—like Apple Music, Tidal, or the label or their listeners. Spotify Premium—labels require fans to pay if they While this is but one piece of what has become want to listen. Yet for a number of reasons, this a tangled disagreement, it resulted in a swift WRITING LYRICS BACHATA technique can backfire—making it the subject of decision from Lucian Grainge, CEO/chairman of A Practical The Dominican Guide Music’s Rise to ongoing industry debate. Global Fame Def Jam’s owner Universal Music Group (UMG), to Enter R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. put an end to all streaming online exclusives under LISTENING GUIDE After a four-year hiatus following his high-chart- UMG-owned labels. Prince’s , Ocean fi nally “When ing debut album Channel Orange This undoubtedly has created waves in the Doves ALESSIA Cry” resurfaced in late August with, surprisingly, two industry. The question is, how will other labels, , is a “visual album”—es- CARA albums. The fi rst, Endless streaming services, and artists respond? In the Standing Up to Peer Pressure, sentially a fi lm with a soundtrack—which served meantime, Ocean remains on the rise. ● O n e S o n g a t as his fi nal release under his now former label Def THE a Time MINIMOOG MODEL D October 2016 Back to the Future $2.99 Vol. 36 No. 1 ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY GEORGE PIMENTEL/GETTY IMAGES UPC 884088547639 ✤ 3 October 2016 ✤ MUSIC ALIVE! musicalive.com GOOD DEEDS Editor-in-Chief Kate Koenig Senior Art Director & Production Manager Michael R. Vella Music Transcriber Adam Perlmutter Circulation Director Music Makes a Difference Mona Kornfeld AFTER LEARNING OF HOW terrorist attacks in Afghanistan affected Circulation Manager children and their families, American guitarist Lanny Cordola wanted Tia Levinson to make a change. So in 2014, he moved from Los Angeles to Kabul, Contributors Afghanistan and founded the Miraculous Love Kids, a guitar school for girls. Chris Sampson, Leila Cobo, Cordola, who has worked with Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and singer Melinda Newman, Adam Nancy Sinatra, teaches guitar to some 50 students at the institution, most Perlmutter, Rob Kemp, Max Levinson of whom are from poor families. “Music is a healing force and a peace mak- ing force,” says Cordola. “My hope is that ... everybody in Afghanistan will pick up a guitar and sing and make music.” ● themiraculouslovekids.org POP QUIZ Chief Executive Officer Irwin Kornfeld WHO’S NEWS President Will Edwards Editorial Director NOT FORJacob Mac Randall Collier Business Manager Barbara AT 21 YEARS OLD, Jacob Collier plays Boughton Advertising Inquiries: about as many instruments as the ikornfeld@ number of years he’s lived. This July, the London- intunemonthly.com Olympics Music born multi-instrumentalist released his debut Since the close of this year’s Summer album In My Room, a wholly independent work MUSIC ALIVE! Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we’ve that has the music world transfixed. On the album, (ISSN 1051-8975) is publishedDISTRIBUTION been thinking about our favorite Olympic Collier sings and plays a wide range of instruments, eight times each year, from theme songs. Can you match the following October through May, from piano, guitar, and drums to bouzouki, dulci- by In Tune Partners, LLC, 582 songs to their Olympic games? North Broadway, White Plains, mer, and accordion. And if that isn’t enough, Collier NY 10603, fax 914-948-4045, 1. “Barcelona” by A. London 2012 also produced his own music videos for the release, phone 914-358-1200. Freddie Mercury and Summer Olympics which feature duplicates of himself performing MUSIC ALIVE! is independently Montserrat Caballé owned and operated. No B. Rio 2016 Summer each part in real time. The up-and-comer was dis- part of this publication may 2. “Bang the Drum” Olympics covered by legendary producer Quincy Jones back be reproduced, stored in any by Bryan Adams and in 2014 when his YouTube cover of Stevie Wonder’s retrieval system, or transmitted, Nelly Furtado C. Seoul 1988 in any form, by any means, Summer Olympics “Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing” went viral, after electronic, mechanical, 3. “Survival” by Muse photocopying, recording, or D. Barcelona 1992 which Jones signed on as his manager. Since, Collier otherwise, without prior written has collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute permission of the publisher. 4. “Oceania” by Björk Summer Olympics 5. “Heart and Soul” by E. Vancouver 2010 of Technology to develop unique audiovisual tech- © 2016 In Tune Partners, LLC, nology for use in his performances, and opened for 582 North Broadway, White Tropkillaz Winter Olympics Plains, NY 10603. Distributed to jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea at the the music trade by Hal Leonard 6. “One Moment in F. Athens 2004 Corporation. 2015 Montreux Jazz Festival. We can’t wait to see Time” by Whitney Summer Olympics GORMAN, (CORDOLA) GREG LANNY COURTESY(COLLIER) OF CORDOLA where he goes next. ● jacobcollier.co.uk ANSWER KEY: 1D, 2E, 3A, 5B, 6C 4F, Houston 4 ✤ MUSIC ALIVE! ✤ October 2016 Left: Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has been hailed for her poetic lyrics, pictured right. Sometimes a great song is all about the lyrics. Here’s a guide on how to . TheNOT. FOR craft your own. NOT FOR Right: DISTRIBUTION Singer-songwriterDISTRIBUTION Bob Dylan. Above: Artby Chris Sampson Handwritten lyrics to his 1965 hit song, ofhat comes fi therst in songwriting, the lyrics or the a songwriter. Along the way, however, there are many tech- . “Mr. Tambourine music?” Professional songwriters are asked this niques that you can learn about the craft—both lyrically. and Man.” question countless times over the course of theirLyric musically—that will not only make the process easier, but career. But for as long as inquiring minds have can dramatically improve the quality of your. songs. PHOTOS: (MITCHELL) JACK wanted to know, songwriters haven’t come up In upcoming articles, we’ll discuss the musical elements ROBINSON/GETTY IMAGES, (DYLAN) MICHAEL OCHS with a good answer. of songwriting. But for now, let’s start by studying the art ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES The truth is, there’s no step-by-step formu- of the lyric. la to songwriting. The creative process is often a whirlwind of PHOTOGRAPHY: lyric fragments, half melodies, and beginnings of chord pro- IN A WORD gressions that eventually fuse together into one complete mu- Before we dive in, let’s consider the role that lyrics play in Wsical statement. a song. Have you ever read a song’s lyrics before listening Through practice, you will learn what works best for you as to it? If not, give it a try. For example, read the four lines PHOTOGRAPHY: 6 ✤ MUSIC ALIVE! ✤ October 2016 musicalive.com musicalive.com October 2016 ✤ MUSIC ALIVE! ✤ 7 Why was the experience of reading the lyrics so different from RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS. ing device so that you can listen to it after- hearing them sung on the recording? Essentially, it’s because the Make sure to always carry an audio Part of what it wards. Often, this technique will produce a lyrics are only 50% of the total work. When combined with the recording device (like a smartphone) means to be a line or two that eventually sparks more that make up the chorus to the song “Help!” by the Beatles right music, lyrics can have a stronger emotional effect on listen- or notebook with you. If you observe ideas for the song’s overall story. without listening to the recording. You will notice the vo- ers. PHOTOS (OPPOSITE PAGE): (KING) JIM MCCRARY/REDFERNS, (ROBINSON) MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES, (HILL) GLENN KOENIG/GETTY IMAGES, (WONDER) PL GOULD/GETTY IMAGES IMAGES something interesting, write it down songwriter is to cabulary is straightforward: It rhymes, and there’s quite a This isn’t to say that music isn’t equally improved by good lyr- or record it. As you go, be sure to make be a keen STEP 3: TIGHTEN UP bit of repetition.