NEWS
Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat, and No Doubt announced as headliner's for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
The Recording Academy announces the nominations for the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards, scheduled for February 4, 2024.
After the finale of Game Of Thrones season 8, the GOT fandom has returned to Westeros in droves for the premiere of HBO’s latest prequel, House Of The Dragon.
Ghanaian-Canadian, 17-year-old singer, Luna Elle has made waves as a rising star in the Americas over the past three years. After the success of her debut EP, she’s returned to the music scene with a new sound and a new message!
Celebrated and boundary busting international DJ, Lelowhatsgood is making his musical debut. Over the past few months, he has gently teased at new music, often working unreleased joints into his sets. This August, he announced the fruits of this labor as part of 7-track joint EP.
International sportswear and lifestyle brand adidas has partnered with luxury South African fashion brand, Thebe Magugu for their first collection. Drawing inspiration from his childhood and the women he looked up to, Thebe Magugu’s take on sportswear in 2022 is one to see.
South Africa’s newest lucrative cultural export, amapiano is getting a BBC documentary treatment. Shining a light on the genre, THIS IS AMAPIANO recently aired on BBC in the UK and is currently available on YouTube.
CULTURE
Sex workers and stock brokers are both known to entertain their clients, dress the part for meetings, and go the extra mile to serve their bottom line. But if only one profession in regarded as work, what does work mean at all?
South African sex workers take TV audiences by storm with a new reality TV show. Now, audiences can interrogate the commodification of women's bodies.
In the post-COVID era, the joy of South African groove culture rejuvenated the entertainment scene. DJs are akin to preachers/choir directors, event organizers are like church cell group leaders, and guests are similar to the most faithful congregants.
As we groove to and celebrate Renaissance, it’s paramount to remember the lives of those living and dead impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. More so, as the world faces the latest monkeypox outbreak, it’s important to deal in facts when discussing the virus, instead of spreading homophobic rhetoric.
Too often, being romantic is seen as "doing too much", with people biting their tongues when they really want to write long, sentimental love letters. For many, the Gone Girl "Cool Girl" monologue perfectly describes this. Vengeance à la Amy isn’t attainable, but in 2022 let us lean into romance, shed our savagery, and consider justice for the romantic.
Gone are the days where people assume that being in the entertainment industry is as glamorous as Old Hollywood suggested. We can thank the rise in Behind the Scenes content, documentaries, and social media for that. But there still seems to be a lack of understanding that entertaining is work, even when you’re in a destination city.
South African audiences are currently enraptured by the book-to-screen series, The Wife based on Dudu Busani-Dube’s Hlomu, The Wife books. Depicting the story of a journalist who marries a taxi driver with a hidden life, the series engages the duality of an abusive husband. Additionally, the series requires viewers to engage what they think they would do, how ever uncomfortable that may be.
Even with the cameras rolling on The Bachelorette SA, men still take the liberties that we often see in our daily lives. Be like Qiniso, don’t wait to see how red the flag can get.
Veteran actor Sello Maake-KaNcube hosts “AboBaba,” a reality TV show chronicling the journeys of absentee fathers to reconcile with their children and mothers.
FILM/TV
Sex workers and stock brokers are both known to entertain their clients, dress the part for meetings, and go the extra mile to serve their bottom line. But if only one profession in regarded as work, what does work mean at all?
Facing difficult odds during “peaceful” times, shows like “The Last of Us” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” make you wonder whether enduring an apocalypse is worth the effort.
Film/TV adaptations of beloved books are forecasted to become a major touchpoint this year. From books like “Hlomu The Wife” to “Trackers,” with more in production, the bookstores are the next big source of inspiration for South African entertainment.
South African sex workers take TV audiences by storm with a new reality TV show. Now, audiences can interrogate the commodification of women's bodies.
“All it takes is fear and a little focused violence,” says the Riddler in the 2022 Batman action film. But what is focused violence and when is it a good time to acknowledge its power? Certainly, without blowing any thing or any one up, it’s fair to interrogate the place for violence in the face of corruption.
In 2021, Netflix premiered Donavan Marsh’s chilling film about a global sex trafficking syndicate, ' Am All Girls'. South African actresses, Hlubi Mboya and Erica Wessels lead this thrilling crime mystery. While parts of i am ALL GIRLS is fictitious, the relationship between Apartheid regime sex trafficking is true. While democracy for all was achieved in 1994, by 2021, South Africa had been named gender-based violence capital of the world. In recent weeks, the news of a gang rape in Krugersdorp, South Africa topped every local news cycle and sparked national discourse.
Over the years, Netflix has steadily prioritized single set films and brought them further into the collective consciousness of the film community; all while tackling themes of police brutality, institutionalized racism, and romantic resentment.
When history is enveloped in mystery, artists fill blanks and re-imagine what could have been in a medium of their choice. This can be seen as South African directors and screenwriters re-interrogate race relations derived from apartheid in recent Netflix film and series productions.
Sam Levinson's hit HBO series "Euphoria" depicts teenage life as misery punctuated by brief moments of euphoria.
MUSIC
While some artists rely on a fandom’s reach to publicise new records, there is a bourgeoning breed of musicians going above and beyond industry conventions to rival their peers, signed or independent. To illustrate as much, consider Bra Nyoga, Tyson Sybateli, Underground King, Sipho The Gift, and for the love of all things NORMVL, please say the by, ByLwansta.
28 Grammy award winning, Billboard #1 charting, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter demanded we disco before we discourse. With dance videos and TikTok transitions galore, it’s finally safe to discuss Beyoncé’s 7th solo studio album, Renaissance; a love letter to the Black women who created the lane she exists in and the audience that loves them. Is the album her best work? That’s for that audience to decide. It will be up to Black queer people to decide if this music deserves a place on the podium that houses Diva Classics.
South African singer Nanette has made her album debut with nothing less than vocal prowess, candid lyricism, and moody melodies set against the backdrop of bad weather. This UMG signee makes a solid case for accepting and making space for post-relationship acrimony without the burden of shame with the release of her 9-track album, Bad Weather.
R&B originated in Black America during the 1940s and has since spread around the world. When the "R" in R&B doesn't stand for rhythm, it stands for romance. Artists like Blxckie, Tanerélle, Michael Nereus and more perfectly illustrate romance in their recent EPs.
South Africa’s arts and entertainment industry is a poorly developed ecosystem of hopeful artists, underfunded initiatives, poor information dissemination, and a lacking media industry. This isn’t to say that there is no hope, but it does make an already farfetched dream seem less achievable.
LIFESTYLE
In the post-COVID era, the joy of South African groove culture rejuvenated the entertainment scene. DJs are akin to preachers/choir directors, event organizers are like church cell group leaders, and guests are similar to the most faithful congregants.
On Friday, January 14, Backyard Group made their return to the scene with an event collaboration alongside Bone Soda and Heavy Rotation at Carfax in Newtown, Johannesburg. As scenes around the country begin to open up again, Back Yard Group’s creative community is a welcome benchmark of entertainment spaces for the months to come.
Festival living is the best kind of living if you ask us! Surrounded by good music, beautiful people, the perfect cocktails, and fashion-forward guests make for some of the interesting elements of any given festival.
Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and Killers Of The Flower Moon nab the most nominations for the 96th Oscars. The Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.