NEWS
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 12: Artists Timbaland and Swizz Beatz attend day 1 of REVOLT Summit x AT&T Summit on September 12, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for RevoltLooks like the word on the curb is out about co-founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s popular Verzuz brand finding new partners to play music with, in social media app Triller. Last week, rumors unexpectedly swirled about Verzuz separating from their Apple Music relationship. In an early morning post (March 9th) to Instagram, Swizz Beatz exclaimed, “Finally something that the creatives own officially!!!! @timbaland it’s showtime!! By the artist for the artist with the people!!!”
Triller, launched in 2015 by co-founders David Leiberman and Sammy Rubin, allows users to take snippets of songs and create quick shareable clips that span the length of their imaginations. Boasting downloads in the 100 million range, Triller seems to aim at playing close to celebs and record labels that distribute the tracks that all the youngins flock to rock. Can Verzuz find the footing needed to expand the battle brand in uncharted ways with Triller? We’ll all have to wait and see.
A typical Verzuz battle, which has featured dozens of match-ups with the likes of DMX vs. Snoop, Bounty Killer vs. Beenie Man and even Gladys Knight vs. Patti LaBelle, routinely scores collective social media viewing numbers into the millions. During the height of the pandemic lock down in 2020, Swizz and Timb’s competitive creation gave much needed light hearted moments and brought back the love of songs from times past.
What this post means as far as deal points between the artist challenge platform that pits music stars catalogues against one another, is also yet to be explained. In the meantime, Swizz got busy after the posting, in seemingly celebrating the news by launching into an IG Live playlist party dubbed “Zone Radio (also born out of the pandemic times like Verzuz).” This edition by Swizz was also in honor of International Women’s Day, “Let’s shout out all the women!”
He didn’t address his announcement about the deal in the live feed, but we are sure to hear more in the coming days, if not sometime later today. Let’s give the fellas a moment to get the announcement all the way explained, as we are sure Swizz is bursting to get the info out. More details to come.
NEWS
Charli xcx has added the Music, Fashion, Film B sides “I Keep On Thinking Bout You Every Single Day and Night,” “Playboy Bunny” and “If You Take the Music Then What Has She Got?” to iTunes through a new digital deluxe release titled Music, Fashion, Film (B-Sides Edition).
The three tracks had already been introduced to listeners through Charli’s @b.sides alternative Instagram account. They also appeared as physical B sides on limited edition 7 inch singles for “Rock Music,” “SS26” and “Camera,” as well as in an extensive Music, Fashion, Film box set. However, fans were unable to officially buy them as digital downloads until Sunday, July 26.
Charli previously told her audience that the songs were “never gonna go on streaming … I don’t think,” although she admitted at the time that her decision might eventually change.
“you can call me a hypocrite, i don’t mind,” Charli wrote alongside a winking emoji while announcing Music, Fashion, Film (B-Sides Edition) on Sunday.
Priced at $4.99 on iTunes, the digital collection features all 11 songs from the original Music, Fashion, Film album, along with the three additional B sides and their accompanying music videos.
Explaining her choice further on Instagram, Charli wrote: “i made b sides for each of the songs released ahead of Music, Fashion, Film because it felt natural to pair each songs with a fitting counterpart – something that’s adjacent to the album but not entirely part of it. traditionally, b sides often become fan favorites… and i guess in the case of some of the b sides for this album, that has proven to be true. i felt adamant i wouldn’t put them on streaming because it sort of felt counter intuitive to the whole ethos of those songs, but i know you all really wanted them so i’ve begrudgingly put them on itunes lol.”
Music, Fashion, Film was released on Friday, accompanied by the online premiere of the theatrical short film Charli developed to complement the project.
She will begin a short North American tour supporting Music, Fashion, Film in Philadelphia on Sept. 11. The run will then visit Brooklyn, Toronto, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Glendale and Las Vegas.
