By: Harmony Takhar

November 13, 2015 had quite a few album releases. There was Justin Bieber, One Direction, Hailee Steinfeld, Jeezy, Alessia Cara, Ty Dolla $ign, and Logic, to name a few. If you haven’t taken the chance to check them out, whether you weren’t sure they were worth your time or any other reason, I’ve got you covered.

Justin Bieber’s album, named Purpose, is the number one downloaded album on iTunes. This was Bieber’s fourth album. The album had 14 songs on it, and the deluxe edition had five extra songs, the Wal-mart edition had two extra songs, and if you pre-ordered the album on iTunes then there was a bonus track, which was a remix of “What Do You Mean” with Ariana Grande. The album was somewhat a comeback album. After taking some time off and headlining most tabloids with nothing but negative things about him for the past three or four years, Bieber came back to writing and recording new music. Some of the songs on the album were about his past relationship with Selena Gomez, others were about finding his “purpose” in life. In his Instagram posts, he claims that his fans gave him “purpose” in life. He believes everyone should find their purpose and it’s important, so he basically made a whole album for it.

Critics thought that the album was mediocre, but fans claim the album went above and beyond. Bieber co-wrote all of his songs and Skrillex produced quite a bit of songs on his album. Skrillex and Bieber collaborated on a track, “Where are U Now,” and liked how they meshed together. The songs that weren’t produced by Skrillex sounded a lot like the old Justin Bieber music, which is by no means an insult. My favorites on the album were “Purpose” and “Life is Worth Living.” They’re motivational songs and produced very well. The songs I absolutely loved were “No Sense” ft Travis Scott, “No Pressure” ft Big Sean (IT MENTIONS EMPIRE), “Love Yourself”, “Sorry”, “We Are” ft Nas, “Company”, and “Been You.” Those songs are FIRE. The rest of the songs on the album are all right. I didn’t exactly prefer them, but they’re not completely bad. He released dance videos to all of his songs from the album the next day on his YouTube channel.

Continue reading “November 13: The Day of Album Releases”

by Harmony Takhar The 49th Country Music Awards aired on November 4 on ABC at 8/7c. The show was once again hosted by Keith Paisley and Carrie Underwood. The show featured performances by Lady Antebellum, Zedd, Sam Hunt, Maddie and Tae, Kenny Chesney, Frankie Ballard, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Reba McEntire, RaeLynn, Jason Aldean, Chris Janson, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Jake Owen, Kelsea Ballerini, … Continue reading 49th Country Music Awards

By: Harmony Takhar The BET Hip Hop Awards of 2015 took place Saturday, October 10. The much-shorter show aired on October 13, 2015 at 8 p.m. after editing to block out profanity. It was hosted, once again, by Uncle Snoop Dogg. The event was actually mostly performances. It had the usual cypher, where a bunch of rappers just spit a few verses. Most of the rappers … Continue reading BET Hip Hop Awards 2015

By: Rachel Stewart The Man-Booker Prize winner was finally announced on Tuesday, October 13.  The novel that received the prize is A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James.  The announcement comes after the long-list of thirteen books was announced on July 29, with the shortlist, narrowed down to six books, following on September 15. Marlon James is a Jamaican author who lives in Minneapolis, and … Continue reading Man-Booker Prize Winner Announced!

by Alyssa Rogers Anneliese Wolf is a 17-year-old senior at Bellbrook High School with a bright future in the art world. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Anneliese for an interview talking about her art. She has been creating her own art outside of school since she was only 6 years old, and no, I don’t mean scribbling pictures; I mean art. When talking … Continue reading BHS Artist Spotlight: Anneliese Wolf