Swedish band ABBA announced a new album to be released in November 2021 and a virtual concert in its own arena.
Listening to the interview it sounds as if all of this started with the virtual concert as a way to leave a legacy behind.
“We wanted to do it before we were dead", said Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus added: ”It’s good if you do that before you’re dead. Because it gets more accurate then.”
So they shaved their beards and went to work. And they wanted to add two new songs but then had so much fun doing it that they finished a whole new album.
Here are the first two songs:
Paul Simon explains how he wrote Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mrs. Robinson.
I like this line:
Everywhere I went, led me where I didn’t wanna be, so I was stuck.
Every Chinese New Year, Apple commissions a short film.
This year it’s about the mythical Nian. Wikipedia explains:
Once every year at the beginning of Chinese New Year, the nian comes out of its hiding place to feed, mostly on men and animals. During winter, since food is sparse, he would go to the village. He would eat the crops and sometimes the villagers, mostly children. […] The weaknesses of the nian are purported to be a sensitivity to loud noises, fire, and a fear of the color red.
Hence the fireworks, noises and the red color everywhere. I remember riding my bike through Shanghai on Chinese New Year with things exploding left and right. It felt like crossing a battlefield.
Here’s the making-of video to the short film with director Lulu Wang and colleagues touting the iPhone 12 Pro Max as a cinema camera:
German singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey playing an open air concert in his garden, singing
The english translation of „A quarter to seven“ is especially good:
Dark heavy clouds gather on the horizon
Like a ragged grey quilt in the sky
Dusk sets in, darkness is rising
Lights going on by and by
“Where have you been so long, dinner is ready,
take your shoes off, they’re covered in loam”
Sometimes I wish it was once again a quarter to seven
And I wish I was back at home
Captain Picard and his crew stand in the transporter room and actor Patrick Stewart mixes up the terms:
Engage! No. Don’t engage… Emm… Energize! That’s what we say in this room. Energize!
Love this.
Apple:
Follow hitmaking, Grammy-nominated songwriter and music producer Oak Felder as he creates a new song. Along the way, he speaks about music production, creating his own unique sound, working with the world’s top artists, and what it means for young artists to have access to powerful technology.
Also check out the behind the scenes video:
Interesting game from Minecraft creator Markus Persson.
It takes ten minutes to play and it teaches you a lot about your life.