Now that it’s April, spring has sprung and, per usual, there was some snowfall. But before we get too deep into music of one of the weirder months of the year, let’s take a look back at all the wonderful music and dramatic music news that swept the world in the month of March.
On the music news side of things, we got the unveiling of Tidal, or what Billboard has called “music’s 1 percent.” If you don’t know what Tidal is, it’s pretty much Spotify on crack. Tidal is a paid online streaming service and is owned by some of the most well known artists in the world, like Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire and Madonna—the list goes on and on. What makes Tidal different is that it claims to have higher sound quality than all other music streaming sites, as well as artist curated playlists, exclusive video and first listens on artists new music. This sound quality compared to Spotify, which has 320Kbps bitrate, is immense with Tidal having 1,411Kbps bitrate.
The controversy is that in order to get that self-proclaimed “lossless” sound, the term they use for their high quality sound, you have to pay $19.99 per month. Tidal has been criticized for this, seeing as the artists that are the owners of it are some of the richest people in the world. They even have the clever slogan, #TIDALforALL, which is contradictory seeing as most people can’t spend $19.99 a month for this service. Controversy aside, I’m currently using the month free trial of this premium service and the sound quality is beautiful. It sounds like the song the artists truly wanted us to hear. I can hear parts of songs that I was never able to hear before. I’m very interested to see what happens with the future of Tidal, but for right now I’m going to enjoy the high fidelity sound for the remainder of the month.
As for the music, this month had some great jams. We finally got the full “FROOT” album from Marina & The Diamonds. After a few months of releasing singles we are graced with this succulent collection of Froots. Of the new songs, “Blue,” the upbeat bop that is sadder than it sounds, and “Can’t Pin Me Down,” the girl power anthem of the album, have to be my favorites. It’s a powerful comeback for Marina and it will definitely be on my jams playlist for a while.
In March there was also the YouTube Music Awards, which I didn’t know existed. A lot of artists released exclusive music videos for this award show, including my favorite eccentric, entrancing UK songstress FKA Twigs. Most of what she creates is very odd, but I have to say the video for “Glass & Patron,” which was released at the award show, is the strangest thing she has ever done. This self-directed video features a pregnant Twigs, flowing silks and a runway of some crazy cool self-expression and dance. As for the song, it’s still growing on me. But the first time I heard it, it sounded over-produced and chaotic and I couldn’t focus on what to listen to. She is still one of the most underrated musicians and I hope more people get to know her artistic music.
This month had a lot of other amazing songs I would recommend. Rihanna dropped a single titled “Bitch Better Have My Money,” which I listen to anytime I need to get pumped up. Florence & The Machine also released their next single, “St. Jude,” which is a beautiful ballad to add to their next album “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.” It was definitely a big month for music, but so is every month. Let’s see what April has in store for us—hopefully a lot of new music and a lot less snow.
https://open.spotify.com/user/dutastyjams/playlist/5k8196eat0H4SeHKUxy0x3
