Next Week in Music | Feb. 24 – March 2 • New Books

Back in my day, pop stars got here in two commonplace fashions: Bimbos and himbos. However the present crop of divine divas appear much more savvy and complex. Or at the least the women do. Ariana Grande, as an example, seems to take herself barely much less critically than her worshipful legions of followers. And Dua Lipa appears comparatively right down to earth — like any individual you might even have an clever dialog with over a beer. Go determine. Or perhaps go examine them; they’re each the topic of recent tomes. Ditto the singer from P.O.D., Metallica’s again catalog, Purple Scorching Chili Peppers‘ Californication, a Jacques Brel basic and extra. Pop goes the world:

Son Of Southtown: My Life Between Two Worlds
By Sonny Sandoval

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Born and raised on the streets of Southtown, two exits from the Mexico border, Sonny Sandoval was all the time going to go his personal manner. And as frontman of the platinum promoting nu metallic band P.O.D. — a bunch too Christian for the world and too secular for the church — he has damaged each mildew, defied each expectation, and reached into the hearts and minds of a whole lot of hundreds of people that wished to belong to one thing however by no means felt like they slot in. Sonny’s life has been one lived on the sting between two worlds, a line he has tried to stroll with integrity. Uncooked and uncut, this memoir tells his true story of rising up within the gritty magnificence south of San Diego, his early musical influences and large breaks, his rise to fame and lots of hardships and struggles alongside the best way. From tales of performing in cornfields to rocking MTV’s Whole Request Reside with Carson Daly to taking part in in New York Metropolis simply weeks after 9/11, and each unglamorous second in between, this hard-hitting memoir could have you believing that there’s nobody proper approach to comply with God’s name. As an alternative, Sonny’s story will encourage you to be completely and uniquely you always, with out apology and with out compromise — however with ardour and integrity.”

Mwah – Dua Lipa: The Illustrated Biography
By Carolyn McHugh

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This lavishly illustrated biography tells the story of Dua Lipa, who has gone from viral sensation to Grammy-winning world famous person. In only a few years the British/Kosovan singer-songwriter has established herself because the doyenne of ‘ darkish pop’ with a succession of upbeat catchy hit tracks with darkish lyrics and undertones. She’ s additionally the queen of collaboration, wanted for her vocals and inventive enter by the business’ s main and most dynamic artists, producers and DJs together with Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson and Diplo in addition to long-established legends of earlier eras resembling Chris Martin and Elton John. Dua’s self-titled debut album featured the hits Be the One, IDGAF, Hotter Than Hell and her first U.Okay. No. 1 single New Guidelines. Her acclaimed comply with up album Future Nostalgia consolidated her standing as she continued to offer the soundtrack to the lives of younger ladies by way of extra hits like One Kiss, Levitating, Bodily and Don’ t Begin Now. She is the true deal — a reputable pop sensation — and that is her story up to now.”

Yours Actually: The Little Information to Ariana Grande
By Orange Hippo

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “One of the-streamed feminine artists of all time, Ariana Grande is the voice of her era. From her breakout on Broadway to her victorious path dominating the charts with R&B bops and beautiful ballads, she has cemented her place as one of many best voices of our time, with the proper ponytail to go along with it. With seven game-changing albums, she’s turned ache into energy and grief into grace, giving the world a soundtrack for each emotion. From breaking information with thank u, subsequent to redefining pop together with her R&B-infused sound, Ariana’s journey is a masterclass in resilience, expertise, and unapologetic self-expression. She’s not only a chart-topper however a cultural icon, utilizing her voice each out and in of the studio to champion causes like psychological well being, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights. With over 300 million followers, sold-out world excursions, and accolades that embrace two Grammy Awards, 9 MTV Video Music Awards, and 27 Guinness World Information, her affect extends far past music. This little information is your excellent dose of all issues Ari, packed together with her most memorable phrases of knowledge, perception, and attraction. As compact because the singer herself, this pocket-sized, petite compendium delves deep into Ariana’s still-rising stardom and throws a brilliant everlasting highlight on what makes her shine.”

Dennis Morris: Music + Life
By Dennis Morris

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In affiliation with a world touring exhibition and coinciding with what would have been Bob Marley’s eightieth birthday, Dennis Morris marks the primary full-career retrospective for this groundbreaking photographer. Dennis Morris: Music + Life is the primary in-depth profession retrospective of the trailblazing photographer, designer, and artwork director. Though Morris is well known for his iconic portraits of reggae famous person Bob Marley, this monograph additionally shines a light-weight on his documentary work, which explores questions of race and cultural id because it attracts on his experiences as a Black teenager in Nineteen Seventies Britain. Morris unveils a trove of beforehand unseen photographs, providing new perception into the image-maker’s visible language. Jamaican-born Morris moved to East London when he was simply 5 years outdated. His ardour for images was ignited when he joined an area church’s digital camera membership. A rebellious 13-year-old, Morris skipped college to fulfill — and {photograph} — Marley, an encounter that will catapult him right into a whirlwind tour with Marley and, subsequently, The Intercourse Pistols as their official photographer. His adventures within the reggae and punk scenes of the Nineteen Seventies laid the groundwork for a multidecade profession spanning images, artwork path, design, and music. The e book unfolds in two symbiotic elements: the primary captures Morris’s unapologetic lens on race, tradition, and id in Nineteen Seventies Britain, whereas the second surveys his collaborations with music legends, together with — along with Marley — Lee “Scratch” Perry, Gregory Isaacs and Marianne Faithfull.”

Metallica: The Tales Behind the Songs
By Chris Ingham

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A must-read for any metalhead, Metallica: The Tales Behind the Songs breaks down the writing and recording of each monitor from every of the band’s studio albums, together with basic information resembling Grasp of Puppets (1986) and Metallica (aka The Black Album) (1991), proper by way of to 2023’s 72 Seasons. Written by Chris Ingham and illustrated with a whole lot of beautiful photographs spanning greater than 40 years, this up to date entry within the bestselling Tales Behind the Songs collection explores the influences behind greater than 100 of the band’s most celebrated tracks, providing followers a singular perspective into the creation, evolution and efficiency of their favorite songs.”

Purple Scorching Chili Peppers – Californication: Rock Basic
By Matt Karpe

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1998, the way forward for the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers appeared extraordinarily unsure. As soon as thought-about different rock’s hottest act on the again of their triumphant 1991 album, Blood Sugar Intercourse Magik, the L.A. quartet would spend the subsequent few years considerably languishing within the doldrums, with drug dependancy and in-house rigidity threatening to undo all these earlier years of laborious work. To say that Californication saved the band is an understatement. For Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and the returning John Frusciante — lengthy thought-about the band’s basic lineup by many — the 1999 album cemented the Purple Hots as not solely the poster boys for alt-rock however as a few of rock’s best artists. Musically, Californication nonetheless featured a deadly dose of the band’s powerhouse funk, however the album was additionally extra melodic, minimalistic, and structured. Mixed with Kiedis’ usually brutally sincere and introspective lyricism, songs resembling the fragile and sombre Scar Tissue, the epiphanic Otherside, and the scathing title monitor, would usher in a brand new period of the band, the place the promise they’d beforehand proven was about to be absolutely realised. In nice element, this e book discusses album’s writing and recording processes, the tales behind each tune — together with the B-sides and unreleased materials, the following world tour, and the legacy the report has left behind.”

Ne Me Quitte Pas: A Tune by Jacques Brel and Interpreted by Nina Simone and Others
By Maya Angela Smith

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1959, Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel wrote and carried out Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don’t Depart Me), a visceral and haunting plea for his lover to come back again. As a youngster, Maya Angela Smith was so captivated by Nina Simone’s highly effective 1965 cowl of the tune that it impressed her to be a French professor. In Ne Me Quitte Pas, Smith follows the basic tune’s lengthy and different journey, from Brel’s iconic 1966 efficiency on French tv to Simone’s cowl to Shirley Bassey’s English-language model (If You Go Away) to its up to date manifestations in fashionable tradition. All through, Smith reveals that because the tune travels throughout languages, geographies, genres, and generations, it accumulates shifting inventive and cultural significance as every listener creates their very own that means.”

The Routledge Handbook of Progressive Rock, Steel, and the Literary Creativeness
Edited by Chris Anderton & Lori Burns

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This handbook illustrates the various ways in which progressive rock and metallic music forge putting engagements with literary texts and themes. The authors and their objects of analytic inquiry provide world and various views on these genres and their literary connections: from historic instances to the trendy world, from kids’s literature to epic poetry, from mythology to science fiction, and from esoteric fantasy to harsh political criticism. The musical therapies of those literary supplies span the continents from South and North America by way of Europe and Asia. The gathering presents important views on the enduring and sophisticated relationships between phrases and music as these are expressed in progressive rock and metallic.”

Ponk!
By Marcus Clayton

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A punk rock anti-memoir advised by way of the eyes of a biracial Afrolatino punk educational, PÓNK! follows Moose, an alienated educational and lead guitarist for Pipebomb! as he navigates by way of areas out and in of South East Los Angeles: punk golf equipment, faculty school rooms, household gatherings, road protests, and euphoric yard reveals. Oscillating between autofiction, memoir, and lyric, Clayton blurs genres whereas articulating the layered results of racism, trauma, immigration, policing, Black hair, efficiency, and poisonous educational language to uncover how one actually turns into an ally. Borrowing from the spatial lyricism of Claudia Rankine, the genre-bending storytelling of Alexander Chee, and the racial musings of James Baldwin, PÓNK!’s narrative takes again punk rock and finds secure house within the mosh.”

Remixing the Hip-Hop Narrative: Between Native Expressions and World Connections
By James Barber, Christian Büschges & Dianne Violeta Mausfeld

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Though hip-hop is now a well-established world music style and cultural kind, its historical past and present influence haven’t but been sufficiently studied. The interdisciplinary contributions to this quantity handle hip hop’s historic and regional struggles for illustration of race, gender, era, place, and language, in addition to the strain between authenticity and commercialization. Contributors provide approaches to historicizing hip-hop tradition, and current new theoretical views and methodological instruments for addressing hip hop’s world influence. This quantity targets not solely students and college students but in addition resonates with current public debates about id politics and cultural appropriation.”