Latest news with #Kaytranada
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Do yourself, the world and me a big favour: stop phone-filming at gigs
I'm making a public vow, which I fear I may abandon the moment Lana Del Rey comes on stage at Wembley in July: to stop recording concerts on my phone. Last Sunday, producer and DJ Kaytranada responded to a fan on X who was frustrated at motionless concertgoers with their phones in the air, writing: 'I think we have come in this age where everybody's trying to catch a moment for their own social media presence. It shows their appreciation instead of them dancing and enjoying shows like we used to.' Even though I wasn't at Kaytranada's show, he had me bang to rights. I have in the past incessantly recorded gigs, insisting to myself that there is no impairment of my enjoyment, or that determinedly rejigging the camera for a panoramic shot of the entire stage was all part of the concert experience. Lost in the spirit of a moment, it can be nice to snap yourself and friends singing along to your favourite artist, and to create a personal archive of a concert's best bits. But what Kaytranada has really nailed is the fact that often recording concerts to upload footage to social media is meant to betray a kind of cool to your audience and reap the intangible social rewards of being a source of Fomo. Concert recording can be like letting everyone know you've been invited to the coolest party – the exclusivity factor baked into the ticket price. Personally, I'm moving on to more subtle and mysterious ways to signal status, like casually dropping the concerts I'm attending in a newspaper. The whole record and upload process has almost been gamified by social media such as TikTok, where clips can go viral and even be picked up by the press. Particularly with large, anticipated tours, there's almost a race to be the person who captures and releases the best footage of a certain moment, with all the accompanying hopes of fast numbers and engagement. Broke the news of Charli xcx's fiance George Daniel doing the TikTok Apple dance at her O2 show long before anyone else? Here's your post embedded in NME and a thousand new followers; don't spend it all at once. I was among the first people in the world to see Beyoncé's Renaissance world tour in Stockholm in 2023 – I uploaded a video of her opening with Dangerously in Love 2 to my former Twitter/X account while she was still mid-song. I got thousands of likes and retweets and people commenting, many pleasantly shocked that she had opened a tour connected to a dance album with an R&B ballad. But what was the point of doing that, really? While I still had fun, I was distracted by my phone during a concert by one of my favourite artists, all for the sake of some ephemeral internet buzz. I haven't even looked at any of those clips again. How much you get your phone out at a concert is not necessarily inversely correlated with fun, but it can just become a faff and a compulsion. At the end of the night you find yourself with a depleted battery, your camera cluttered with maybe a hundred clips, and a lot of time wasted swiping through each one figuring out which is the best to use to show off on social media. I also had a ticket to Beyoncé's London show where I felt no need to record the same performance twice and had possibly the best concert experience of my life. But we can't always attend every tour twice – with today's prices, it's a money pit just going once. I suppose, though, that there are those who are performing a kind of public service. Beyoncé kicked off her Cowboy Carter tour in California this week, and, as with other major concerts, there were several livestreams across Instagram and TikTok from people who have committed to capturing the show from open to close for those fans who can't attend due to location or expense. There are problems with this; some people complain of 'concert spoilers' filling their timelines (though I personally don't think a concert can be 'spoiled'), and I'm not especially clear at what point it becomes piracy. But with the decline of tour DVDs and uncertainty over whether you'll ever set your eyes on an iconic stage design beyond press stills again, I can see why recording still feels necessary for posterity. But it doesn't have to be you. Rest safe in the knowledge that the most dedicated fans, probably with tickets for multiple nights, will shoot and upload the best angles and most surprising moments for you to scroll past later. Maybe limit yourself to one or two clips for the Instagram story, then lock your phone away, wave your hands in the air and 'move them hips', as Kaytranada says. Jason Okundaye is an assistant newsletter editor and writer at the Guardian
Times
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Kaytranada review — a slow start, an elated finish
Too often superstar DJs (I'm looking at you, Calvin Harris) simply stand behind their decks, occasionally waving their arms and ordering the crowd to 'put your hands up'. The Haitian-born Canadian Kaytranada is too good at dancing for that — and he knows it. His sets are enhanced by his many moves, including a suave shuffle he calls the 'running man'. During the opener of his three-day residency at Alexandra Palace in north London celebrating last year's album Timeless, he gyrated, twirled and, at one point, bounced ecstatically with the music he was spinning to the cheers of his predominantly twentysomething fans busy puffing their vapes. They also cheered as he removed his trendy burgundy zip-up to reveal a white vest and took sips
CBC
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Charlotte Cardin, Kaytranada to be honoured at francophone SOCAN gala
Charlotte Cardin, Kaytranada, Banx & Ranx and Richard Séguin are among the music stars getting awards at a gala for Canada's francophone music creators and publishers. Gala SOCAN says a glitzy bash set for May 4 in Montreal will present songwriting awards to Cardin and her writing partner Jason Brando, as well as producers Banx & Ranx, while Kaytranada is in line for the International Achievement Award. WATCH | The official music video for Kaytranada's track Witchy feat. Childish Gambino: Séguin will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for "his immense contribution to 'la chanson québécoise,'" while songwriter Diane Juster is getting the Lifetime Achievement Award. The White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer will receive the award for screen composer of the year, and rap group Muzion will get the award for cultural impact for its anthem La vi ti nèg, the first hip-hop song to get this prize in the gala's 34-year history. More than 100 trophies in 29 categories will be awarded for achievements over the past two years. The gala is the francophone equivalent of the SOCAN Awards, set for later this fall in Toronto to honour music creators and publishers working primarily in English. Other categories presented May 4 will celebrate genres including country, electronic, hip-hop, jazz and R&B. Special achievement award winners will receive "The SOCAN" — a trophy that is also a musical instrument made up of five tuned metal disks known as crotales. In this edition, the crotales will be tuned to play the first five notes of Muzion's La vi ti nèg melody. WATCH | The official video for La vi ti nèg by Muzion:
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
AfroFuture Detroit unveils first wave of festival acts: Davido, Kaytranada, more
An international array of artists will help create the musical tapestry this summer at the inaugural AfroFuture Detroit festival. Organizers on Thursday announced the first wave of artists tapped for the event, which will run Aug. 16-17 at the Bedrock Detroit Douglass Site, just north of downtown. Also unveiled Thursday were Nigerian gospel singer Flavour and rising Afrobeat artist Lojay, with Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley as the first hometown act named to the 2025 lineup. Producers also revealed the first batch of DJs and party hosts to lead the action elsewhere on the AfroFuture grounds, including DBN Gogo, Juls, TxC, and DJ K-DAWG & EZ Pass, whose sets will fuse culture-spanning music with classic Detroit sounds. The fest's main-stage artists will include Nigerian star Davido, Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada, Brazilian pop singer Ludmilla and Congolese singer-rapper Gims. AfroFuture was launched in Ghana in 2019 — then as Afrochella — setting out to celebrate African music's global diaspora. The festival's U.S. debut comes this August at the Douglass Site in Detroit, where a previous fest brand, Afro Nation, was presented in 2023 and 2024. This year's event will feature two music stages, a designer marketplace and other amenities. More: Metro Detroit spots celebrate first day of spring with free ice cream, Italian ice More: Detroit concerts on sale this week: Black Keys, Babymetal, Jamey Johnson, more 'This summer in Detroit, we're creating something truly transformative — a celebration where every sense is engaged and every aspect of culture is elevated, AfroNation cofounder Abdul Karim Abdullah said in a statement. A ticket presale launched Thursday, with general-admission passes starting at $99 and VIP packages at $199. In anticipation of a visiting audience, organizers also announced lodging partnerships with the Roost Detroit at Block Tower and the Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Downtown, and an airline partnership with Delta that offers discounted flights. AfroFuture Detroit is sponsored by Bedrock and produced by Paxahau, whose other events include the annual Movement electronic music festival at Hart Plaza. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: AfroFuture Detroit unveils wave of fest acts: Davido, Kaytranada, more
