Music Review: Conan Gray's ‘Wishbone' further confirms his place as a tastemaker of Gen Z pop
Discovered on YouTube in the early 2010s, Gray's narrative pop earned him a place among the tastemakers of Gen Z music. He collaborated closely with producer Dan Nigro (known for his work with Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan) on his first two albums. The 26-year-old's most recent, 2024's 'Found Heaven,' was a departure from Nigro and the affective melancholy of his previous singer-songwriter releases. Swedish super-producer Max Martin produced many of that project's well-received 80s-inspired tracks, which saw an adaptable Gray convey big emotions through sound, rather than story.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bayreuth's 2025 production of Wagner's ‘Meistersinger' features a Technicolor look – and a twist
BAYREUTH, Germany (AP) — In Wagner's home theater, a twist has been added to the classic opera 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.' Instead of Walther joining the guild of master singers and preparing to marry Eva after he wins the song contest, in Bayeuth's new version she grabs the medal out of the young knight's hands, returns it to her father, then leads her future husband offstage for a future forsaking the traditions of their family and city. 'No thank you. Let's go!' explained soprano Christian Nilsson, who is singing Eva in her role debut. 'She is a strong girl.' Matthias Davids' production runs through Aug. 22, emphasizing entertainment with a Hollywood Technicolor look highlighted by an upside-down inflatable cow and a tiny St. Catherine's Church atop 34 steep steps. Cow image dominates set Nilsson's Eva arrives for the Feast of St. John. encased in flowers with additional blossoms in her headdress, carried atop horizontal poles by four men. 'We were always referring to Eva as the prize cow. We said she is sold like a prize cow,' said Davids, a 63-year-old German director known for his work in theater musicals. That idea led to the huge heifer, manufactured by a company that makes inflatables and covered with flame retardant coating, according to set designer Andrew Edwards. Sixtus Beckmesser, the petulant town clerk who loses the song contest to Walther, pulls the plug on the cow, which darkens and sags, during the final oration defending the imperative of German art by the cobbler Hans Sachs. While Sachs runs to restore the connection — reinflating the bovine balloon and restoring light — the young lovers reject him and what he stands for. Townspeople, many wearing conical red caps that give them elf-like looks, shrug their shoulders at the final notes as Sachs and Beckmesser argue upstage. Wagner's happy ending not always kept When 'Meistersinger' premiered in 1868, Wagner presented a happy ending in which Walther and Eva joined together and he is admitted to guild. Davids' ending is less jarring than Kasper Holten's 2017 Covent Garden staging, set in a men's club where Eva is horrified Walther would want to join the misogynistic Meistersingers and runs away in tears. 'I saw some productions and I always found them kind of heavy and meaningful,' Davids said. He read Wagner's letters about his desire to produce a comedy to earn money and decided to search for lightness and humor while realizing comedy can't constantly sustain over four hours. Details were worked out during rehearsals, with Davids inspired by the chemistry of Nilsson and tenor Michael Spyres, who also was making his debut as Walther. Nilsson maintains a beatific beam during Walther's prize song. 'I really felt like in this production Eva and Walther truly had a fun connection — fun, young, loving connection — and I just leaned into that and listened to Spyres' beautiful tenor,' Nilsson said. Bringing levity, and an Angela Merkel look-alike, to the stage Davids' contrast was sharp from Barrie Kosky's 2017 production, set partly in Wagner's home of Wahnfried and the Nuremberg trials courtroom, with Walther and Sachs portrayed as Wagner of various ages. This time Georg Zeppenfeld was a grandfatherly Sachs in an argyle button through sweater vest. Beckmesser, played fussily but without histrionics by Michael Nagy, had a shimmering silver sweater below a cream Trachten jacket, mirror sunglasses and lute transformed to resemble a heart-shaped electric guitar outlined by pink light that gave him an Elvis Presley look. Jongmin Park, an imposing Pogner as Eva's father, was attired in a more flowing robe. Eva wore a traditional dirndl and Walther, an upstart, a punkish T-shirt. Susanne Hubrich costumed various townspeople to resemble German entertainer Thomas Gottschalk, comedian Loriot, fans of the soccer club Kickers Offenbach and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 'Ms. Merkel is a Wagner fan and attends the Bayreuth Festival almost every year,' Hubrich said. 'I spoke with her after opening night. She was amused.' Edwards, the set designer, had orange and yellow spears of light that resemble fairgrounds and included architectural details from the Bayreuth auditorium such as circular lamps in sets of three in the church and seats like the ones the audience was viewing from. Conductor Daniele Gatti, returning to Bayreuth for the first time since 2011, and the cast were rewarded with a positive reception from a spectators known to make displeasure known after more provocative performances. 'Just looking around the audience, there was a lot more smiles on people's faces at the end than normally you see at the end of Wagner productions,' Nilsson said.
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Giada De Laurentiis ‘cried' after Mario Batali credited her success to her ‘big boobs'
Giada De Laurentiis participates in Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One - Aperitivo presented by Mohegan Sun hosted by Giada De Laurentiis part of the LIVEHAPPilly series presented by illy caffé at Iron 23 on October 14, 2021 in New York City. Photo by Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Giada De Laurentiis revealed what fellow former Food Network star Mario Batali really thought of her success in the industry. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The celebrity chef was a guest on Samah Dada's YouTube show On the Menu when she brought up the scandal-ridden Batali. 'This is a person we're not supposed to talk about, but we're going to,' De Laurentiis dished to Dada, in reference to his sexual misconduct allegations. The 54-year-old says she asked Batali to write a foreword for her 2005 cookbook Everyday Italian , which was based on her first of many Food Network shows. She described Batali as 'a legend in the Italian space,' explaining, 'I felt like his stamp of approval would've been huge for me.' Batali agreed to write it, but De Laurentiis says result was unexpected. 'When I read it, I cried because I realized, 'Oh, he's basically saying that I've gotten to where I've gotten, and I've had this little bit of success that I had, because I have big boobs, and that if he had boobs, he would even be much further.'' She continued: 'Because I'm like, a joke, right? Like, to him, it was like a little bit of a joke.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The celebrity chef recalled calling her editor 'in tears,' because this was not something she was used to. 'So now what do I do?' she remembers saying. De Laurentiis detailed that she and her editor rewrote the foreword and sent it back to Batali for approval. 'But I will never forget that that's basically what a lot of people figured — cute girl with big boobs, so that's why they're watching her,' she said. RECOMMENDED VIDEO The foreword that was ultimately published in her first of 11 cookbook so far reads: 'It turns out that Giada is smart, Italian-speaking, and family-oriented — the three qualities my grandma hoped I'd find in a girl to marry. (Too late for that.) She's also a great cook, highly knowledgeable about food, and a huge amount of fun to be around — the three qualities I'd hope to find in a television partner.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Batali was first accused of sexual harassment and assault in December 2017. In May 2022, he agreed to settle lawsuits by two women alleging he sexually assaulted them in separate encounters in Boston, one of whose accusations were the focus of a #MeToo-era criminal prosecution that ended in his acquittal. Batali formerly ran the B&B Hospitality Group with restaurateur and Masterchef judge Joe Bastianich but was bought out from the company following the allegations. Read More Bastianich's mother, renowned chef and principle of B&B Lidia Bastianich, told the Toronto Sun 's Rita DeMontis in 2018 that the allegations against Batali were 'addressed immediately and actions put in place to assure the people working for the company that this would not be tolerated.' She admitted that she was devastated by the reports, calling Batali 'part of the family.' Batali was fired from ABC's The Chew while Food Network halted plans to release episodes of his show, Molto Mario , after the allegations. De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian ran for 12 seasons, while also appearing in a number of other series over the years before leaving the network in 2023. She has since released her latest cookbook, Super-Italian and is focused on her lifestyle brand, Giadzy. Other Sports Ontario World Celebrity Toronto & GTA
Winnipeg Free Press
7 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Richard Thomas dons wig and mustache to play icon Mark Twain in one-man play touring the US
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Thomas has not one but two big shoes to fill when he goes out on the road this summer in a celebrated one-man show. The Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee is portraying the great American writer Mark Twain in a play written and performed for decades by the late Hal Holbrook. Thomas immediately accepted the offer to star in the 90-minute 'Mark Twain Tonight!' that tours more than a dozen states this summer and fall before wondering what he'd gotten himself into. 'I walked down to the street and I said, 'Are you crazy? What are you out of your mind?'' he says, laughing. 'I had to grapple with who's the bigger fool — the man who says, 'Yes, I'll do it' or the man that says, 'No, I won't'?' Holbrook portrayed the popular novelist and humorist for more than a half century starting in 1954, making over 2,300 performances to a collective audience of more than 2 million. He and Thomas were fond of each other and would see each other's work. The show mixes Twain's speeches and passages from his books and letters to offer a multidimensional look at an American icon, who toured the U.S. with appearances. 'I'm going to feel very much like I'm not only following in Hal's footsteps, but in Twain's as well,' says Thomas, who began his career as John-Boy Walton on TV's 'The Waltons' and became a Broadway mainstay. Thomas jokes that Holbrook had 50 years to settle into the role and he has only a year or so. 'I have the advantage on him that he started when he was 30 and he was pretending to be an old man. I'm 74 so I'm right there. That's the one area where I'm up on him.' 'It's time for Twain' The new tour kicks off this week in Hartford, Connecticut — appropriately enough, one of the places Twain lived — and then goes to Maryland, Iowa, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, Tennessee, New York, New Jersey, Utah, California, Arizona, Alabama, Utah and Florida by Christmastime. Then in 2026 — the 60th anniversary of the Broadway premiere — it goes to Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin and Ohio. 'It's time for Twain, you know? I mean, it's always time for Twain, always. He's always relevant because he's utterly and completely us, with warts and all,' says Thomas. The actor will travel with a stage manager and a trunk with his costumes, but all the other elements will be sourced locally by the venues — like desks and chairs, giving each show local touches. 'There's something about doing a show for people in their own community, in their theater that they support, that they raise money for. They're not coming to you as tourists. You're coming to them.' Thomas has done a one-man show before — 'A Distant Country Called Youth' using Tennessee Williams letters — but that allowed him to read from the script on stage. Here he has no such help. 'One of the keys is to balance the light and the shadow, how funny, how outrageous, the polemic and the darkness and the light. You want that balanced beautifully,' he says. Twain represents America Other actors — notably Val Kilmer and Jerry Hardin — have devised one-man shows about the creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, who still manages to fascinate. A new biography of Twain by Ron Chernow came out this year, which Thomas is churning through. Thomas sees Twain as representing America perfectly: 'He just lets it all hang out there. He's mean-spirited; he's generous. He's bigoted; he is progressive. He hates money; he wants to be the richest man in America. All of these fabulous contradictions are on display.' Thomas has lately become a road rat, touring in 'Twelve Angry Men' from 2006-08, 'The Humans' in 2018 and starring as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from 2022-24. Orin Wolf, CEO of tour producer NETworks Presentations, got to watch Thomas on the road in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and says having him step into Twain will strengthen the theater community across the country Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'It's so rare nowadays to have a true star of the road,' Wolf says, calling Thomas 'a breed of actor and artist that they rarely make anymore.' 'I'm delighted to be supporting him and delighted that he's chosen to do this because I think this is something he could also take on for hopefully many years,' he adds. After Twain, Thomas will next be seen on Broadway this spring opposite Renée Elise Goldsberry and Marylouise Burke in David Lindsay-Abaire's new comedy, 'The Balusters.' But first there's the eloquence and wry humor in a show about Twain that reveals he was often a frustrated optimist when it came to America. 'I think it reflects right now a lot of our frustration with how things are going,' says Thomas. 'Will things ever be better and can things ever better? Or are we just doomed to just be this species that is going to constantly eat its own tail and are we ever going to move forward?'
