Halsey. Justin Timberlake. Pharrell. Calvin Harris. ALL ON ONE TRACK! Check-out this latest entrant for Song of the Summer ’22! “Stay with Me” is dancey, summer, neo-Disco/R&B magic! Something epic for your weekend!
(Photo credit: Sony Music Entertainment)
Even though they were pushed back a bit this year, it was better late than never for the 2018 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards. The event celebrating the tastes of Canadian Music fans, took over Bell Media headquearters at 299 Queen Street saw headliners Shawn Mendes, Halsey, 5 Seconds of Summer, Alessia Cara and more perform before a live outdoor audience, seen across the country on CTV. The fixture held annually on Father’s Day, was pushed back till now.
Filling hosting duties was Awkwafina, Star of Box Office hits OCEAN’S 8 and CRAZY RICH ASIANS joking with the audience how she has the voice of a wrestler and the body of a Pikachu.
Among the big winners of the night were Pickering’s Mendes who won Best Pop Artist of the Year and Fan Fave Artist and Fan Fave Video for In My Blood. Halsey was named Artist for Change, while Toronto’s “6ixGod” Drake won Best Hip Hop Artist, seeing his track God’s Plan win Best Director – emerging young talent Karena Evans receiving the honour. Bebe Rexha’s duet with Florida Georgia Line, Meant to Be, won her Best Collaboration. Coveted Video of the Year went to Logic ft. Khalid and Brampton native Alessia Cara‘s 1-800-273-8255. Toronto’s Loud Luxury won Song of the Summer for Body (featuring Brando).
We were out and about sighting the stars and see who we saw!
Awkwafina
Bebe Rexha
More on the winners here.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
2015 has been a phenomenal year for New Jersey native Halsey, née Ashley Frangipane. The 21-year-old Singer/Songwriter’s debut disc Badlands has garnered critical acclaim and a growing legion of fans. Her electronic-alternative edge has a pop familiarity to it and in addition to being rebellious and confessional, her music possesses a sophistication and poetic elegance to it.
Record retailers like HMV in Canada have given her the greatest vote of confidence even offering a money-back guarantee on the purchase of Badlands should you not be satisfied with it. In an era of declining physical album sales, this says a lot.
I had the pleasure of seeing Halsey live at The Phoenix on her first ever self-headlining tour. She also will be opening for Toronto’s The Weeknd‘s The Madness Fall Tour on select dates. In fact, he also had a show in the city tonight at Air Canada Centre, one of two this week.
The colourfully-haired chanteuse who decidedly is blonde right now, told the packed crowd, “The Weeknd told me all about Toronto love!” before telling fans she would perform a one-city exclusive, a cover of Justin Bieber‘s smash What Do You Mean specially for Toronto.
Enhanced by LED visual displays, while being dimly-lit in blues and reds for added intrigure, Halsey performed for about an hour, sounding absolutely solid. The short length of tracks presented some pacing issues as things would get moving and stop multiple times, though Halsey was pleased to talk to fans with great personability about her excitement touring in-between.
Halsey recorded a duet with Bieber recently titled The Feeling, to appear on his upcoming new disc Purpose. Although making mention of it, she wouldn’t perform any of it with several speculating Bieber would show up.
Listen to her talk about her experience working with Justin Bieber below:
See her live cover for Toronto only, of What Do You Mean (NSFW):
Halsey was amazingly-nice after her show to stop to snap Selfies in a crowd of hundreds of fans wrapping along Sherbourne Street. Despite not being able to get to all, she did her best and had a handler manage expectations.
Unfortunately, Halsey had some press lined-up for tomorrow including a live set at radio station The Edge, which was cancelled as she is to fly-out. We did manage to meet her quickly and she was the sweetest and despite panic when she came out, she kept it all calm especially after some incidences at her previous shows.
See our Snap:
Music should speak for itself, so I’ll let you enjoy a couple live tracks from tonight, my favourities from Badlands.
Roman Holiday
Colors
If you haven’t already, order Badlands now on iTunes.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
I’ve been so incredibly busy of late that I’ve forgotten to post about this. If you’re really into Pop, you already know about Halsey, the 21-year-old blue-haired New Jersey native, whose star is rising at a rapid rate. Her video for debut single New Americana solidifies her star power and if you haven’t seen the Hunger Games-esque homage, you MUST.
See the Video:
Never before have I heard of a money-back guarantee on an album. If you purchase her disc Badlands at HMV Canada and if for any reason aren’t happy with it, they are making the brazen move of allowing you a full refund. Now that’s confidence.
In this era of the Music Video’s decline, the fact that her label was willing to help foot the bill for this glorious production also is very telling…
She’s back in Toronto early November for a show at The Phoenix.
(Photo/video credit: Universal Music Canada)
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