MUSIC

Olivia Castriota Shoots New Video 'What Do You Stand For' on the US-Mexico Border

The R&B-soul diva has been a contender in the past, but her latest video reveals she has political edge.

In the political climate we find ourselves in at the end of 2019, it feels like we spend every day being asked the same question: What do you stand for?

With various media reporting every day about all the new excruciating facets of the various humanitarian crises both at our doorsteps and further afield, we either other ourselves from atrocity or retreat into a virtual world where we can ignore it. Olivia Castriota brings this to light in her latest music video, taking her usual output of pop music almost to a place of performance art, directly and loudly asking us: "What Do You Stand For"?

The song, an anthemic piece that at first appears to be about self-empowerment, takes on a satirical bite when contrasted with the visuals of the video. Collaborating with AZURxVIBES Productions, Castriota and her team headed south and shot some remarkable footage along the US-Mexico border in Arizona. The music video shows guerilla-documentary style visuals of illegal circle-fights, the border wall, and actual undocumented immigrants crossing into the US spliced with more commercial angles of Castriota performing and appearing in glamorous locales, producing a distressing juxtaposition. Recontextualized, her lyrics now alternate between self-reflective criticism and downright self-parody; the chorus' call-and-response becomes a conflict rather than an affirmation. The joyously anarchic result: "What do you stand for? / I stand up for me":

"Our goal as directors was to bring out an emotion of uncomfortable self-reflection from the viewer. We wanted the viewer to feel the dry parched desert from the comfort of their sofa, while watching children in cages on their smartphone. Not guilt... but a slap" - AZURxVIBES

An unconventional video project needs an unconventional debut. To that end, Castriota premiered the video by projecting it onto a giant empty wall on New York's Houston street, adding to the video's punk-rock street cred. Passers-by were charged with the task of looking up and taking notice of what was going on around them. Both literally and figuratively.

Olivia Castriota has already shown herself to be a talented singer and songwriter, producing pieces like " Weekend Lover" and "Kills Me," but "What Do You Stand For" takes things to another level. Her willingness to position herself in the video as a fatuous figure, taking selfies whilst surrounded by humanitarian neglect shows an uncommon degree of self-awareness. In the face of the sheer human agony of the border crisis, answering "What do you stand for?" with "I stand up for me" is blatant satire on the petty, selfish short-sightedness of Instagram-based empowerment. Castriota once again stands out from her contemporaries by challenging the status quo, telling us loud and proud what she stands for.



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MUSIC

5 New Releases for People Sick of Hearing About Taylor Swift

New music from Jay Som, Missy Elliott, and more.

Press Photo

A lot of fantastic music came out this week.

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MUSIC

Female Rappers Lead the 2019 Freshman Class

XXL Magazine finally dropped their freshman cyphers, and Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty, and Tierra Whack are carrying the 2019 freshman class on their backs.

XXL 2019 Freshman Class Revealed - Official Announcement

For a solid decade, Nicki Minaj was the only female rapper to maintain mainstream success.

When Cardi B came stomping onto the scene in her "bloody shoes," Barbz were fighting to keep Nicki's throne. Now, a few years later, female rappers are on the rise—proving there's plenty of room at the top.

XXL Magazine finally dropped their freshman cyphers, and Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty, and Tierra Whack are carrying the 2019 freshman class on their backs. Unsurprisingly, none of the women were paired together. If they had been, the rest of the freshman class would have no real competition. Each rapper had their own particular style and flow that, as Tierra Whack phrased it, came "for necks."

Megan Thee Stallion is particularly having a bomb "hot girl summer," creating a movement after dropping one of the most stirring projects of 2019, Fever. The Houston rapper has been on the rise, grounding her lyricism in epic and mega-hit freestyles. Hot Girl Meg is legit.

DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion, YK Osiris and Lil Mosey's 2019 XXL Freshman Cypherwww.youtube.com

Meanwhile, Rico Nasty may fit into the category of a freshman rapper, but she has already released six mix tapes. At 21, she showed a different side of herself on the 2019 cypher. Deft, exhilarating, and biting, Rico Nasty enchanted viewers both familiar and unfamiliar with her work. She bodied the beat, spitting bar after bar.

Blueface, YBN Cordae and Rico Nasty's 2019 XXL Freshman Cypherwww.youtube.com

Featured on Beyoncé's The Gift, Tierra Whack brought her imagination to "MY POWER" with her controlled and bewitching delivery. The rapper, who Remy Ma cosigned, got real with fans, rapping, "I used to wanna be lighter, but I still shine being dark." Finally, a dark-skin female rapper is making a name for herself without conforming to the pop-rap precedent set by Nicki and Cardi— the rap game will hopefully never be the same.

Roddy Ricch, Comethazine and Tierra Whack's 2019 XXL Freshman Cypherwww.youtube.com

MUSIC

Lizzo Performs at NPR's "Tiny Ass Desk" Concert

"If you can love my black ass at this tiny tiny desk you can love yourself."

NPR

It may be Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer, but we're on our way to Lizzo's Fat Girl Fall.

But Lizzo is still our hot girl on her summer roll. This season she's continuously banged out music videos and infectious live performances after her critically acclaimed album, Cuz I Love You. On Monday morning, NPR released Lizzo's first Tiny Desk Concert to the enjoyment of many. The singer brought her energy, range, and charisma to NPR and continued to spread her self-love, positivity, and confidence to the stage. Lizzo performed three songs off her deluxe studio album, "Cuz I Love You," "Truth Hurts," and "Juice." She even graced us with a Sasha Flute appearance. We could not be more grateful.

Watch the full performance here!

MUSIC

Lizzo Shows What Her Body Can Do on New Video for "Tempo (feat. Missy Elliot)"

In the video, you'll find plenty of twerking, glittering lingerie, and neon lights—and the opposite of shame.

Lizzo - Tempo (feat. Missy Elliott) [Official Video]

Lizzo has graced everyone's Friday morning with her new video for "Tempo (feat. Missy Elliot)."

In typical Lizzo fashion, our patron saint of self-confidence continues to do revolutionary work by destroying fatphobic stereotypes and proclaiming her undying love for her figure and the music that best shows it off when she dances.

"Some songs ain't for skinny hoes," she says, rocking a red cowboy hat and bedazzled lingerie. On a lesser star, it might look performative, like trying too hard to be some kind of body positive icon, but Lizzo's performances always transcend shallow constructs like body positivity or purely appearance-focused joy. Instead, Lizzo focuses her attention on what her body can do—and clearly, her body was made to move.

Missy Elliot's feature takes the song to a new level, placing Elliot's bars over dramatic synths. When they come together with other dancers and start literally defying gravity, somehow it doesn't seem faked. In a way, they've all been floating the whole time.

Lizzo - Tempo (feat. Missy Elliott) [Official Music Video]www.youtube.com

This video's release comes a day after Lizzo told Cosmopolitan that depression nearly prevented her from releasing music,. "The day I released 'Truth Hurts' was probably one of the darkest days I've had ever in my career," she said. "I remember thinking, 'If I quit music now, nobody would notice. This is my best song ever, and nobody cares. I was like, 'F— it, I'm done.'

That dark time was only the beginning of a stratospheric rise to success. "Now the song that made me want to quit is the song that everyone's falling in love with me for, which is such a testament to journeys: Your darkest day turns into your brightest triumph," she said.

Later in the interview, she said that she'd be happy to star on The Bachelorette, under one condition. "The men would have to be naked and they would have to wear little thong briefs and they would have to feed me grapes," she said. Also, "It would be mandatory to get my p---y eaten at least once on the whole season, and it would have to be filmed."

Today, between her radically honest interviews and radiant, twerk-heavy videos, Lizzo is one of pop's brightest and most tradition-bucking stars. Next up, she'll be starring in the stripper-revenge dramaHustlers, alongside Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez, in theaters 9/13.

HUSTLERS TRAILER PREMIERE!www.youtube.com

MUSIC

Lizzo's Joy Is Infectious on "Cuz I Love You"

Her third full-length album is the chronicle of a woman who loves herself like it's a sport, who dances and desires and hurts and cries and heals and dances again.

Photo by Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock

Lizzo is celebration personified.

On the heels of her powerhouse performance at the first weekend of Coachella, her third studio album Cuz I Love You has arrived, and it is, in no uncertain terms, a gift. Lizzo's potent cocktail of soul, rap, and funk anchor her odes to independence—eleven tracks spelling out her vision of love and empowerment while riding an effortlessly effervescent vibe. From the throwback-brass explosion of the title track onward, the album embodies a genuine vulnerability around love and worth, a powerful salve for barbs of self-doubt over an infectious sound.

The album's lustrous production constructs the perfect space for Lizzo to fill with her always-dazzling—often hilarious—songwriting. Lizzo purposefully centers Cuz I Love You around the idea of feminine acceptance, with the songs "Like A Girl" and "Soulmate" serving as anthemic road maps to manifesting self-love. She evenly examines self-image, sexuality, and love as sources of both delight and pain in her life, most acutely on "Crybaby," "Heaven Help Me," and on the soulful ex-boyfriend dismissal that is "Jerome." (It's unclear whether Jerome is a metaphorical bundle of inconsequential men or just one guy, but if there is a singular Jerome, Lord help him.) Lizzo and Gucci Mane have the time of their lives trading bars on "Exactly How I Feel." "Tempo" remains as rhythmically imperious as it was when it first dropped as a single, with Lizzo's sotto verses perfectly complemented by Missy Elliot's blessing of a feature. But as much as Cuz I Love You manages to bedelirious, multifaceted fun—especially the album closer, "Lingerie," a song so dangerously sultry that it should probably come with some kind of warning label—Lizzo never loses sight of her point: this album is a celebration of her and her body and the love and beauty she's built for herself. That's what's really being shared on this album and what makes it impossible to ignore.

There's an effusive sense of joy to everything Lizzo does, and Cuz I Love You revels in that truth. At the core of the album's breakup salvos, irresistible dance breaks, and self-confidence bops is Lizzo's unmistakable light, spilling from every verse she spits and every vocal run she nails. Cuz I Love You is the chronicle of a woman who loves herself like it's a sport, who dances and desires and hurts and cries and heals and dances again, irrepressible and undistracted in her mission. Lizzo's is a joy with a profound wisdom behind it, a joy that praises the trials of self-love and the flute-twerking to be had along the way—Cuz I Love You is her greatest sermon yet.

Cuz I Love You



Matthew Apadula is a writer and music critic from New York. His work has previously appeared onGIGsoup Music and in Drunk in a Midnight Choir. Find him on Twitter @imdoingmybest.


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