By Purva Grover
I’ve never considered myself a fan of a celebrity, which means I have not plastered walls of my room with posters, written fan mails or cried buckets at the failure of a film, match or concert. I enjoy a good show — cinema, theatre, music or a game. But, I’ve always wondered what is fandom, what does fandom look like? Continue reading A Rahman concert showed me what it means to be a fan
By Kelly Clarke
While sitting in a press conference on Tuesday morning, my phone pinged out: “Listen, were you a big Cranberries fan? Dolores is dead,” the message read. The sender was my colleague.
Continue reading The day everyone became a fan of The Cranberries
By Maan Jalal
I don’t know if I believe in magic in the traditional sense of the word. Though I love Harry Potter and the worlds of fantasy in general, whether on the page or on the screen, I am in many ways a common sense type of person. However, to contradict myself in print, there is a more nuanced meaning of magic that I do believe in.
Continue reading I just stumbled on a distant voice called Mercury
By Farhana Chowdhury
Jonghyun Kim, the lead vocalist of K-Pop boy band SHINee, recently committed suicide at the young age of 27, shocking fans around the world, including me. According to Korean media, the star had left a number of cryptic messages prior to his death that hinted at his long-term struggle with depression, loneliness and fear of lacking talent. Continue reading A musician ended his life. Not the first K-Pop star to do so
By Allan Jacob
The rhythm has given way to the blues. I’m talking of my frail spirit with flu-like symptoms which I hope will vanish as I try to sound upbeat in this column. There’s a ‘whole lotta shaking going on’ in the music scene these days and I hope you will forgive me for striking a few discordant notes. Taylor Swift is staking her Reputation, her latest album that has already sold 1.04 million copies since its release last week. It’s great for the numbers game, but the songs (or the material that I managed to listen to) fail to move me. The diva has become a victim of her own reputation in the age of social media with her music-on-steroids routine. She’s fighting back against the virtual slander (and the bots) through her music that the youth seem to lap up. I like Swift, or at least some of her early Fairytale songs which have country roots, a genre that I enjoy. If you haven’t listened to Swift’s latest chart-buster, you should, at least for the lyrics in New Year’s Day. “Hold on to the memories; they will hold onto you,” she sings.
Continue reading This was the year many of my favourite musicians died
By Lucas Shaw
The market for guitar lessons is massive. Some 60 million people rent a guitar each year. To cash in on that, U2’s Edge helps Fender Find What It’s Looking For with this new app
Continue reading You really can learn to play the guitar on an app, sitting at home
