K-pop playback: BTS collaborations

Earlier this week, South Korean boy band BTS dropped the track list for their upcoming album, “Map of the Soul: 7.”


The first 5 of the 20 tracks in the album come from the past record, “Map of the Soul: Persona,” while the rest are new songs, including the recent single “Black Swan” and title track “On.”

The septet will release two versions of “On” – a BTS-only song and one featuring Australian singer Sia, which will be available only on the album’s digital version.

The team-up with the “Chandelier” hitmaker, which the band reportedly organized, is the latest in a string of high-profile collaborations since 2017, the year BTS made history as the first Korean group to win an award at the Billboard Music Awards.

In anticipation of “Map of the Soul: 7” and the song with Sia, which are both slated for release on Friday, here’s a look-back at some of BTS’ work with other artists:

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Rapper Nicki Minaj to perform in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—US rapper Nicki Minaj will perform in Saudi Arabia this month, organizers said, triggering a storm on social media as the ultra-conservative kingdom loosens decades-old restrictions on entertainment.

Minaj, known for her profanity-laced lyrics and raunchy music videos, will perform in the western city of Jeddah on July 18, organizers of the ongoing Jeddah Season cultural festival announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

The headline act, to be televised on MTV, will also feature British musician Liam Payne and American DJ Steve Aoki, local media reported.

"She (Minaj) is going to be actively on her social media, she'll be posting right from the stage in Jeddah and at her hotel in Jeddah," Robert Quirke, an event organizer, was quoted as saying by the Arab News daily. 

"Everyone is going to know that Nicki Minaj has landed in Saudi Arabia."

The performance in the kingdom, which forbids alcohol and has a strict social code, comes as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pursues a sweeping liberalization drive that has led to new cinemas, concerts and sporting extravaganzas.

The news was widely welcomed in a country where two-thirds of the population is under 30, with one Twitter user posting a picture of Minaj and writing: "My dream has come true." 

But it also triggered outrage from conservative quarters.

"She is going to go and shake her backside and all her songs are about sex... and then everyone tells me to wear the abaya. What the hell!" one woman said in a video posted on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia is boosting entertainment that allows citizens to have fun, in what some see as an attempt to blunt public frustration over an economic downturn and high youth unemployment.

The kingdom's General Entertainment Authority said it plans to pump $64 billion into the sector in the coming decade.

The reform also stems partly from an economic motive to boost domestic spending on entertainment as the kingdom has reeled from low oil prices.

Saudis currently splurge billions of dollars annually to see films and visit amusement parks in neighboring tourist hubs like Dubai and Bahrain.

While Saudi Arabia is yet to offer tourist visas, the country has fast-tracked electronic permits for international visitors to attend such festivals to further boost revenue.

But such acts have fuelled controversy in a country still steeped in conservatism.

In June last year, Saudi Arabia sacked the head of its entertainment authority, following an online backlash against a circus featuring women wearing skin tight leotards.

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Brief, angry confrontation in New York pits Nicki Minaj against Cardi B

Two of America's most prominent rap and hip-hop artists, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, nearly came to blows in a brief but explosive confrontation during New York's Fashion Week.

Videos on Twitter and YouTube showed the two women, who were on a second-floor balcony above a red carpet event late Friday, being separated by their security guards as Cardi B curses her rival before throwing a shoe at her.

Minaj was reportedly not hurt. But a photo taken immediately afterward shows Cardi B with a large bump just above her left eye. The Variety website said one of Minaj's guards elbowed her during the melee.

It was not immediately known what touched off the dispute, but gossip site TMZ said Cardi B, the first female rapper to have had multiple No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, had accused the older Minaj, one of the best-selling musical artists now performing, of spreading "lies" about her. 

In a subsequent Instagram post, the 25-year-old Cardi B complained -- without naming names -- that her rival had gone too far when she criticized Cardi B's qualities as a mother. Cardi B had a child in July with fellow rapper Offset.

Cardi B gained enormous notoriety in the US musical world last year with the release of her song "Bodak Yellow," with its references to her past as a strip-tease dancer trying to make ends meet.

Minaj, 35, has sold more than five million albums worldwide and won 10 Grammy nominations.

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Nicki Minaj hunting for Tracy Chapman as album waits

NEW YORK -- Rapper Nicki Minaj said Wednesday that she is pushing back her new album as she desperately seeks to reach Tracy Chapman to clear a sample.

Chapman, the deep-voiced and intensely private folk singer behind socially conscious songs such as the 1988 classic "Fast Car," has pulled off the increasingly rare feat of being nowhere to be found online as Minaj pleaded via her 20 million followers each on Instagram and Twitter.

In a tweet this week that she later deleted, Minaj wrote that a song on her upcoming album, "Queen," features one of "the greatest rappers of all time" but that she had "no clue it sampled the legend #TracyChapman."

Minaj, whose album will be her first in four years, proceeded to poll her followers to ask whether she should delete the track or delay the album.

The latter option apparently won. Writing on her Apple Music account on Thursday, Minaj said the album would come out August 17. She earlier had announced it for June and then pushed it back to August 10.

Minaj also posted a text conversation conducted through a fan in which Chapman is offered $2 million to grant permission in time for an August 10 release.

Chapman, 54, has said that she has no desire to spend time on social media.

A number of fans voiced offense at Minaj's full-court push.

"I can't believe that this is the kind of disrespect that Tracy Chapman is getting for merely not replying!!" tweeted one user with the handle @nasque.

Minaj did not specify the rapper behind the supposedly obscure Chapman sample but her praiseworthy tone led fans to think she was referring to Eminem. The two rappers have suggested in flirtatious public remarks that they may be romantically involved.

Chris Brown, the singer and rapper controversial over his history of domestic violence, sampled "Fast Car" in his song "Run Away."

Minaj, one of the top women in hip-hop, has already released three songs from "Queen" including "Bed," a tropically infused, sexually charged duet with pop singer Ariana Grande, and "Chun-Li," a nod to Asian martial arts and video-game culture.

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Eminem fuels Nicki Minaj dating rumors

NEW YORK -- Eminem on Sunday fueled rumors that he was dating Nicki Minaj, creating an ultimate hip-hop power couple -- and one which few would have anticipated.

Eminem, the top-selling rapper of all time, addressed speculation of the relationship as he headlined the Governors Ball festival in New York -- although his phrasing was odd enough to leave lingering doubts.

"I'm going to tell you something about Nicki that she don't even know," Eminem told the crowd.

"We go together!" he said to cheers. "That's all I wanted to say. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest."

Minaj, one of the most influential women in hip-hop, suggested a relationship with Eminem late last month when she contributed a verse to the song "Big Bank" by rapper YG.

"Told 'em I met Slim Shady / Bag the Em / Once he go black he'll be back again," she said, using one of the alter ego character names of the white rapper.

Posting the verse on Instagram, Minaj was asked by a fan whether she was in fact dating Eminem and she replied, "Yes."

But the unusually direct response stirred social media chatter that the relationship was little more than teasing between the two, and Eminem was coy on the subject when addressing an earlier concert.

Eminem, 45, has generated headlines for his turbulent personal life -- and often violent lyricism about women -- since he emerged in the 1990s. He twice married and divorced Kim Scott, his high school sweetheart from Michigan.

The Trinidad-born Minaj, 35, last year said she had ended a two-year relationship with fellow rapper Meek Mill.

The eight-year-old Governors Ball drew some 150,000 people over three days to the city's tiny Randall's Island. Other performers included garage rocker Jack White, boisterous rap star Travis Scott and fast-rising pop singer Halsey.

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Who made it to Time's 100 Most Influential People 2016 list

Time magazine has released its 13th annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.

Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, rapper Nicki Minaj, Indian actress Priyanka Chopra and Lin-Manuel Miranda of Broadway's "Hamilton" all made it to the list, gracing their individual covers.

Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan were also among this year's most influential people, long with Adele, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Caitlyn Jenner, and Idris Elba.

Time editor Nancy Gibbs said these people made the list for showing the world what they're capable of and for breaking boundaries.

-ANC's News Now, April 22, 2016

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Taylor who? All eyes on wildcard Miley Cyrus for MTV VMA show

LOS ANGELES - Justin Bieber might be making a comeback and Taylor Swift is leading nominees, but at Sunday's annual MTV Video Music Awards, all eyes will be on the show's wildcard host, Miley Cyrus.

After twerking her way into national headlines with a latex lingerie-clad performance of "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke at the 2013 VMA show, former Disney Channel star Cyrus has made the most of her raunchy side.

It's an image that MTV has harnessed for promoting this year's VMAs, a show that honors the achievements in music videos but is better known for its unexpected and outrageous moments.

In promotions for the show, Cyrus, 22, is seen wearing dolphin and pizza pasties covering her breasts, strutting in a skimpy swimsuit and swinging on a wire dressed in a spacesuit while repeating curse words strategically bleeped out.

"We've had a long-standing relationship with her from the 2013 VMAs," said Amy Doyle, executive producer of the show. "She continues to be an amazing character in pop culture, she's musical and has lots of personality."

The MTV Video Music Awards are often the place where artists go to make a splash - from Eminem rapping with dozens of his lookalikes in 2000 to Lady Gaga donning a dress made of raw meat in 2010 and Beyonce revealing her baby bump in 2011.

"Every artist we're collaborating with wants theirs to be most memorable performance of the night," Doyle said. "There's creative competition because of the historical nature of the show and moments that go on to live in pop culture."

At 2009's show, Swift won for best female video but was promptly cut off on stage by rapper Kanye West, who snatched her microphone and declared "I'mma let you finish but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time."

It's a moment that went down in VMA history and could come full circle on Sunday as West receives MTV's Video Vanguard award honoring his career. Swift is rumored to be the one presenting him with the award - not that MTV is letting anything slip.

It's all about tuning in live and sharing in the experience, Doyle said. "There's a fear of missing out if something's happening live and you're not a part of it."

Swift has a leading nine VMA nominations going into Sunday's show, where performers will include Nicki Minaj, Pharrell Williams, Demi Lovato, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Tori Kelly.

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Pharrell, Minaj lead BET award winners

LOS ANGELES -- R&B star Pharrell, rapper Nicki Minaj and newcomer August Alsina led the winners at the Black Entertainment Television (BET) awards on Sunday, which also honored veteran soul singer Lionel Richie.

Pharrell kicked off the show with "Come Get It Bae" and won two awards, including best male R&B/pop artist. Beyonce was named best female R&B/pop singer, and closed the show with a sultry performance of "Partition" with husband Jay Z. The couple also won best collaboration for "Drunk In Love."

Richie, 65, received the lifetime achievement award for his prolific career as part of Motown group The Commodores and as a solo artist.

"Soul is a feeling, not a color. Talent is a God-given gift and not a category, and out of the box is the magical place where true talent goes to thrive and breathe," Richie said as he accepted the award.

John Legend, Ledisi and Yolanda performed Richie's classic love songs "Hello," "Still" and The Commodores' "Brick House" and "Jesus is Love." Richie sang "Easy" and "All Night Long."

The BET awards, held in Los Angeles, celebrates black musicians, actors and athletes. It is hosted by cable TV network Black Entertainment Television, part of Viacom Inc., and the show was preceded by violence at unofficial parties ahead of the show in which one person was killed.

New Orleans singer Alsina was named best new artist and Lil Wayne's rap collective Young Money scored best group.

Drake won best male hip hop artist, but was not available to collect his award. Minaj was named best female hip hop artist and threw a little dig at other rappers by saying: "When you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it."

Comedian Chris Rock hosted the show, throwing jokes and jibes and handing out chicken and waffles to the audience. The almost four-hour ceremony toplined high-profile performances from some of the music world's biggest names.

Usher referenced his 20-year career with a medley of his hits, Minaj performed "Pills N' Potions" on a stage with giant psychedelic mushrooms and R&B star Chris Brown joined Lil Wayne to perform "Loyal."

Australian newcomer Iggy Azalea joined rapper T.I. to perform "No Mediocre" and her hit single "Fancy." The show also served up 1990s nostalgia with R&B groups Troop, Color Me Badd and Silk singing a medley of classic hits.

Oscar-winning historical drama "12 Years A Slave" swept the film categories with Oscar-winning newcomer Lupita Nyong'o named best actress and Chiwetel Ejiofor named best actor. Neither were on hand to accept their awards.

Civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams accepted the humanitarian award commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act signed into law in 1964.

Sportswoman and sportsman of the year went to tennis star Serena Williams and basketball player Kevin Durant respectively.

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