With just three days left until the MuchMusic Video Awards, the Canadian music network dropped a bombshell today: fan favourite Selena Gomez—who was the MMVA host last year—will be returning to this year’s awards show as a presenter. Read more »
Inside last night’s sold-out Lana Del Rey show in Toronto: The world’s biggest indie star on the rise and the stylish fans watching
Photography by Lewis Mirrett
Last night’s sold-out Lana Del Rey show at Toronto’s Mod Club was as much about buzz as it was about music. Del Ray’s star has risen extraordinarily fast in the less than three months since her first single, “Video Games,” complete with a (maybe) homemade video, was released on YouTube—it currently has 8 million views and counting—and fans everywhere can’t get enough. Or, rather, they can’t seem to figure her out. There are too many words that come to mind when trying to describe the 25-year-old singer, so I’ll just go with “dichotomist.” Her voice? Purring meets badass. Her lyrics? Melancholy, yet hood. Her sound? Poppy, yet cinematic. Her looks? Southern beauty queen meets Ann Margaret meets the Pink Ladies. She’s impossibly beautiful, with lips too beestung to be natural. Though she’s reported to have grown up in Lake Placid, her accent is mysteriously Jersey. (There are those who scoff at her put-on identity, such as her claims to have grown up in a trailer park when, in reality, she attended boarding school, but Bob Dylan had similarly fictional roots.)
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Mix Master: Parisian DJ Michel Gaubert sets the soundtrack for fashion’s most extravagant spectacles
An 80-strong Philharmonic Orchestra at Chanel Spring 2011. Photography by Peter Stigter.
By Laura deCarufel
Michel Gaubert has a laugh that makes you want to get him alone with a gin and tonic and a confidentiality vow, and ask him to dish about his three decades in the fashion world. Rarely in the spotlight but always in the vanguard (and on the guest list), Gaubert is an insider’s insider, the style set’s most trusted DJ. He’s partied with Thierry Mugler and Jerry Hall, collaborated with Longchamp, and created runway soundtracks for power houses such as Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten and—most notably and consistently—for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel.
Sharlene Chiu’s FASHION + music pick: “What About Us” by Handsome Furs
Start your weekend off steamy by checking out the new video by sexy Canadian electro-pop couple Handsome Furs (Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry). “What About Us” is the first single off their new album Sound Kapital, released by Sub Pop. I actually just flew back home from Lisbon, where I was shooting the next Sharlene Vs. episode. There, I got to guest on Radar FM (Portugal’s alternative radio station) with DJ Pedro Ramos, and picked “What About Us” as my Canadian request. It was a super-rad experience, and as I’m catching up on my music news in a jet-lagged haze, I’m stoked that there’s a video for the track now. Yes, the video is absolutely NSFW, as it drips with intense passion and sex, and I can’t help but feel compelled to throw on a pair of heels and hit a sweaty dance floor. Sound Kapital is the first Handsome Furs album written exclusively for keyboards, and the strong catchy beats burn brightly throughout the album. Get ready to be turned on.
Sharlene Chiu’s FASHION + music pick: “Dirt” by WU LYF
The members of Manchester’s WU LYF (which stands for “World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation”) are barely in their 20s and until a recent Guardian interview, they’ve pretty much remained a faceless mystery. On their striking website, they describe themselves as, “Four dumb kids calling out heavy longings for a place to call home,” and in an age when we’re able to access unlimited amounts of information about any band at any given time, the fact that WU LYF avoided press for such a long time gave them an unplanned anonymity within the music world, which, of course, only made people more curious. WU LYF cites bands like Black Flag, Fugazi, and Minor Threat as inspirations to their “F**k you, mainstream” mentality—they opt for a more DIY, fan-favoured approach to the way CDs are released and shows are put on. Their debut album Go Tell Fire to the Mountain was self-released on June 13 in the UK/Europe and will be available on August 22 in North America. In the meantime, check out their captivatingly raw video for “Dirt.”
Sharlene Chiu’s FASHION + music pick: “Calgary” by Bon Iver
Bon Iver’s gorgeous follow-up to 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago, simply titled Bon Iver, will be released on June 21, but I got my lucky hands on a copy a couple of weeks ago and it’s been my nightly soundtrack ever since. I’m a huge sucker for a good falsetto, and singer/songwriter Justin Vernon’s angelic one always sends me straight to sweet slumber. “Calgary,” the lead single from the new album, just got the music video treatment and although there’s a lot going on visually, it’s hard not to be swept away by the simple, powerful emotion that pulls throughout the song. Bon Iver just does it right—every time.
Sharlene Chiu’s FASHION + music pick: “The Morning” by The Weeknd
“The Morning” is the latest song from The Weeknd’s House of Balloons haunting mixtape to receive an “unofficial” music video. “The Morning” is one of my favourite tracks from the mysterious Toronto outfit, headed by singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye. The video for “The Morning” perfectly matches The Weeknd’s emotional space and achingly smooth croon with visualizations of themes that run throughout the album—sex, lust and drugs are taken to whole new level.
Sharlene Chiu’s FASHION + music pick: “Gucci Gucci” by Kreayshawn
Whether you like it or not, there’s no doubt that you’ll be hearing California native, 21-year-old Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci” all summer long. Her video for this addictive track has already garnered more than 1.5 million YouTube hits, tagging her as the next internet music sensation and sparking rumours of a million-dollar record deal with Sony. For those of you wondering if this is just a big joke, the pixie-sized rapper has cred to her name—she shot music videos for the BasedGod Lil B (among others) and is friends with members of Odd Future (Left Brain and Jasper appear in the “Gucci Gucci” video). Take a look and get acquainted with what will inevitably be a part of your summer soundtrack this year. Everybody now, “Gucci, Gucci, Louis, Louis, Fendi, Fendi, Prada…”
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