“Beer’s sassy breakup tune sounds like a mix of Ariana Grande and JoJo, with impressive, breathy vocals laid over a danceable beat.” – Billboard
“The [acoustic] video shows us a stripped back, simple, and alluring side of Madison.” – Earmilk
“Cedric Gervais adds a euphoric touch to ‘Dead (Cedric Gervais Remix),’ which capitalizes on the chilled-out vibes that future bass delivers.” – Dancing Astronaut
“Madison Beer completely reinvents herself on the alt-pop anthem.” – Idolator
TV One Unveils Public Service Announcement to Accompany Debut of Original Film, When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story on Monday, August 28
Network leverages film to create open dialogue about domestic violence through partnerships with youth organization Saving Our Daughters and the National Domestic Violence Hotline
When TV One’s new original film, When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story premieres on Monday, August 28, the cast, director and producers want the audience to be educated and informed while they are entertained. Based on a popular episode of the network’s true crime series, For My Man, the film depicts the true life tragedy of a teen mom in Atlanta who found herself the victim of psychological manipulation and physical abuse at the hands of a man who claimed to love her. Instead, he encouraged her participation in a life of stripping, prostitution, robbery and ultimately, murder – all in the name of love.
“When I was 14, I dropped out of school – a lot of people don’t know that. By the age of 16, I was bartending in a strip club, by the age of 20 I was stripping…so I understand how Falicia got there,” says film director Tasha Smith, who signed up for the project as her feature-length directorial debut. “By the grace of God, I ended up here, but she ended up in jail for the rest of her life.”
Yet, before Falicia was convicted of murder, she was a young girl looking for love and validation in all the wrong places. In an effort to reinforce the film’s underlying message that real love doesn’t hurt, TV One, in partnership with the National Domestic Violence Hotline, will air a public service announcement during the film presentation.
“This film is a cautionary tale about everything love shouldn’t be in our communities,” says Lori Hall, TV One SVP of Marketing. “Tasha Smith directs a powerful story that reveals exactly how a teenager can fall victim to a relationship that quickly moves from loving to abusive and unhealthy. We want this film to be a wake-up call for young people and families and we hope it will start a lot of dialogue in homes around the country.”
The PSA reveals that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of physical violence by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Chief Communications Officer Cameka Crawford joined panel discussions at TV One film screenings in Atlanta, New Orleans, New York and Los Angeles to provide the audience with resources to get help if they know someone who may be in an abusive relationship.
“Your instinct may be to ‘save’ them from the relationship, but it’s not that simple. Abuse is about power and control, so one of the most important ways you can help someone in an abusive relationship is to think about how you might empower them to make their own decisions,” says Crawford. “You can also offer support by listening without judgment and reassuring them that the abuse is not their fault. If you need help starting the conversation, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE(7233) or visit www.thehotline.org.”
Additionally, TV One partnered with Saving Our Daughters, an organization whose mission is to empower teenage girls from multicultural backgrounds through theater, music, film and television, to help overcome many obstacles such as bullying (cyber, gossip, face-to-face), dating abuse, domestic violence and other esteem slayers. Young ladies attended the When Love Kills premieres held in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles to walk the red carpet with the cast and have a dialogue about real love and self-esteem.
“We are extremely blessed and excited about our new and ground breaking partnership with TV One. We look forward to the positive impact on working together to encourage and change the girls’ lives we serve,” says Curtis Benjamin, Saving Our Daughters Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. “TV One’s original movie cast, directors and producers of ‘When Love Kills’ have truly developed a tool for our girls to help create empowering conversations about date abuse, domestic violence and healthy mother and daughter relationships.”
Lance Gross, who plays Falicia’s abusive and manipulative boyfriend Dino, conducted research and prayed before taking on the role. Gross believes both women and men will see what not to do in relationships and child rearing by viewing this film.
“I want people to learn something from this film because I’m a father,” he emphasized. “Just reading this script and participating in this project makes me want to go home and love my daughter even harder, because who knows who the next Falicia Blakely will be.”
Still rocked by the experience of undertaking the role, Gross decided to email the real Falicia Blakely in prison and was surprised to receive a response. She thanked Gross and those involved in the film for their willingness to raise awareness against domestic violence.
When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story premieres Monday, August 28 at 9 p.m. ET on TV One.
Watch the When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakley Story PSAHERE
Watch the When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakley Story TRAILER HERE
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ABOUT THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is a non-profit organization established in 1996 as a component of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Operating around the clock, confidential and free of cost, The Hotline provides victims and survivors with life-saving tools and immediate support. Callers to the hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) can expect highly trained advocates to offer compassionate support, crisis intervention information and referral services in more than 200 languages. Visitors to TheHotline.org can chat live with advocates and they can find information about domestic violence, safety planning, local resources, and ways to support the organization.
The Hotline relies on the generous support of individuals, private gifts from corporations and foundations and federal grants. It is funded in part by Grant Number 90EV0407/03 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/ Family Violence Prevention and Services Program, a division of the Family and Youth Services Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Administration for Children and Families or the U.S. Department of HHS.
ABOUT SAVING OUR DAUGHTERS
Saving Our Daughters (SOD), a 501c-3 organization, creates the tools to get teen girls discussing key issues and fired up to take the power away from bullying (cyber, gossip, face-to-face), date abuse, hate crimes, school violence, violence against women, and other esteem slayers. SOD has had the honor of collaborating with key talent in film, television, and music with its celebrity-inspired book series as well as decades of experiential learning programs. With a powerful network of community partners, SOD delivers a revolutionary level of awareness and action to determinedly instigate fiercely confident living.
ABOUT TV ONE
Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvone.tv) serves more than 60 million households, offering a broad range of real-life and entertainment-focused original programming, classic series, movies and music designed to entertain and inform a diverse audience of adult Black viewers. The network is the exclusive home of NewsOne Now, the only live daily news program targeting Black viewers. In December 2008, the company launched TV One High Def, which now serves 14 million households. TV One is solely owned by Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK, www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets Black and urban listeners.
Born in West Charlotte, North Carolina, Luther “Lute” Nicholson’s hip-hop awakening happened at 7 years old. His older brother was heading off to basic training in the Army and entrusted him to look after his prized CD collection. A budding visual artist who spent all his free time drawing and doodling, young Lute had no interest in his big bro’s stash, but one day, curiosity got the best of him.
“There was a treasure trove of stuff that I had never heard,” he recalls excitedly. “Outkast, Goodie Mob, Tupac, Biggie, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Pastor Troy, 3-6 Mafia… It wasn’t until I scavenged through all of it that I realized I had been missing out on a lot.”
The year was 1996, and things were rapidly changing in the historically Black Beatties Ford neighborhood where Lute grew up. From the drugs being sold on the corners to the escalating police violence, the reality of his surroundings was becoming too much to bear. Hip-hop somehow helped the youngster make sense of it all.
Lute was 13 when he decided to try his hand at writing some raps. Coaxed into it by his friends Jimmy Kelso and Allan whose older brother was already a popular rapper in high school, the entering freshmen created a crew of their own. “Early on, I was terrible,” he admits, “But the more I did it, the more I really liked this second outlet I had to express myself in ways that I couldn’t through art.”
The trio practiced religiously; rhyming over instrumentals they downloaded from the J. Armz How To Be An MC series. They eventually recorded their first mixtape, burned a bunch of CDs and distributed them to their friends. “Everybody was feeling it,” says Lute. “We liked the recognition we were getting at school but at the time we weren’t thinking anything bigger than that.”
It wasn’t until near the end of 12th grade that he began to take things more seriously. Kicked out of school for insubordination and struggling to complete his GED at a local community college, the misunderstood 17-year-old had no choice but to grow up quick. He opted to put his faith in his expanding skills and instead of hitting the books, focused on elevating his lyrical content and flow.
In 2010, he met up with fellow microphone fiend, SchylerChaise, and discussed forming a Voltron-like collective of likeminded MCs who would support one another on the come up. Lute brought in his old pal Jimmy Kelso and SchylerChaise invited his buddy High I’m Ry. Together they became Forever FC.
“It was a brotherhood,” Lute explains. “We were all independent artists working on our own projects but we had each other’s backs.” The four-man squad made enough noise during their five-year tenure to grace the cover of Creative Loafing Charlotte and garner national coverage from The Fader, Complex and The Source magazines.
In the midst, Lute dropped his first solo mixtape, West 1996, in early 2012. Recorded in a basement over beats he found on YouTube, the critically acclaimed project swiftly caught the attention of legendary hip-hop producer, Pete Rock, who retweeted it to his followers, and North Carolina rap star J. Cole, who tracked him down after discovering the tape on 2DopeBoyz.com.
“I named the project West 1996 because I’m from the west and I fell in love with hip-hop in 1996,” Lute reveals. “I recreated the Nas cover because I felt like this was gonna be my ’hood’s Illmatic. My perspective was just talking about growing up and the music I loved. I didn’t expect anything from it, but all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it blew up.”
Retweets and likes weren’t paying the bills, though. And with a baby on the way, Lute went underground, taking a menial job at the airport fueling planes to make ends meet. Almost three years went by before fans heard from the promising young rapper again. But when he finally resurfaced, he had the long-awaited follow-up to his debut in hand and ready to go.
“Everybody was asking where the music was so I decided to give people an idea of what I’d been going through the last few years,” he says. “I had a lot of things to write about and started creating songs on the job. I had also decided that this was gonna be my last project ever, so I went all out and poured my heart into it.”
Lute sent raw copies of West 1996 Pt. II to a few of his closest peeps and associates, including Dreamville filmmaker Scott Lazer, who passed it along to the boss. The night before the release date, Lute got a text from J. Cole saying he’d heard and loved the album and wanted to help take it to another level. The two spoke, and much to the dismay of his fans, Lute ended up holding the project.
That summer, J. Cole invited the talented wordsmith to join the Forest Hills Drive Tour for a couple of weeks “to see how things work” behind the scenes. His Dilla-produced head nodder, “Still Slummin’,” was included on the Revenge Of The Dreamers II Dreamville compilation, and by the end of 2015, it was announced that Lute was officially on Dreamville Records.
Although West 1996 Pt. II was already finished when Lute got signed, it was riddled with delays due to sample clearance issues. So the artist went back to the drawing board, tweaking song structures, swapping out instrumentals and redoing hooks to make it feel fresh. “It’s come a long way,” he remarks.
The contemporary throwback album features soulful production contributions from GRAMMY-winner Cam O’bi (“Ford’s Prayer” and “Premonition” feat. Earthgang), alongside Shiggy (“Home” feat. Elevator Jay and “Git Up’ feat. GQ), Elite (“Ambitions”) and Save Allen (“Morning Shift“, “Crabs In A Barrel“ and “Livin’ Life” feat. High I’m Ry). The single “Juggin’,” also produced by Save Allen, serves as a metaphor for how the artist has approached his 28 years on the planet.
“It’s about finessing your way through life,” explains Lute. “My mom was always the one always telling me to watch my circle, don’t get involved with the wrong crowd, and do things the right way,” he recounts. “Meanwhile my dad was like, ‘forget that, you gotta get out there to figure out how life works.’ I’ve always just tried to find that balance.”
Dylan Hyde is 20-year-old singer/songwriter from California. At the age of three, Dylan’s mother was awestruck when he revealed his incredible voice despite being diagnosed as clinically deaf in both ears. As doctors worked to improve his hearing, his mother continued to nurture his talent, igniting his passion for music. Dylan taught himself to play guitar & piano, and began to build a fan base that motivated his family to move from his hometown of San Diego to Los Angeles. Dylan caught the attention of EP Entertainment CEO’s Robert Eleazer and Tony Perez, who signed him immediately. Dylan went to work in the studio with Motown label-mate Sebastian Kole, who would help him to develop his sound as well begin creating a strong & unique body of work. Dylan’s gentle and charismatic charm, standout vocals and soulful tone are showcased on his new single, “Clearly”, which was featured in a campaign with DanceOn & Paul Smith for Pride month. WATCH HERE
First Single From reputation, “Look What You Made Me Do”, Is Available Now on iTunes And All Streaming Services
reputation Available 10th November, 2017
World Premiere Sneak Peak of the Music Video Today on Good Morning America
“Look What You Made Me Do” Lyric Video Available Now
Singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Taylor Swift, has released “Look What You Made Me Do,” today on iTunes and all streaming outlets. “Look What You Made Me Do” is the first new single from Taylor’s long-awaited and highly anticipated 6th studio album, reputation (Big Machine Records). “Look What You Made Me Do” is available for purchase on iTunes and is available to stream everywhere.
The most anticipated album of the year, reputation, is available for pre-order now.
Demi Lovato shared a photo on Instagram wearing Henri Bendel. The pop star shared a teaser to her new album wearing Henri Bendel’sOrbital Linearm Earrings ($138, www.henribendel.com).
About Henri Bendel:
Henri Bendel was a fearless innovator, a leading arbiter of women’s fashion, and passionate explorer of The New & The Next. He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1868.
Bendel moved to New York to work as a milliner opening his own shop in Greenwich Village in 1895. A man known for infallible taste, he quickly became a leading tastemaker and couturier to the city’s elite and his boutique became a beacon of luxury.
The Henri Bendel brand, still vibrant more than a century after its inception, continues to champion the spirit of the store’s visionary founder. It strives to always delight and serve fashionable women, to seek out the best of The New & The Next and to always experiment and innovate.
Henri Bendel is a Girl’s Playground consistently interpreting and reinventing itself as a destination rooted in the never-ending energy abundance and creativity of the city of New York.
WHO: Grammy nominated singer/songwriter and critically acclaimed actor Mack Wilds
WHEN: Thursday August 22, 2017
WHAT: Mack Wilds releases visuals for “Explore” and “Bonnie & Clyde” ft. Wale, from his latest project After Hours. The sensual videos directed by Charles Todd and Mack Wilds, both tell the story of temptation that follows you and the repercussions of giving in. When asked about inspiration both Mack and Charles said “This film explores the idea of that fleeting love – how a blend of desire and curiosity lead us down a path we’ll willingly follow. At times, we lose ourselves to lust with no regard for the consequences of our actions… But we’re only human, right?”
“AfterHours” is the sophomore release from Mack following his first album “New York: A Love Story released in 2013.
Mack Wilds, a native New Yorker, born and raised on Staten Island, started his acting career as a teenager making his television debut as AJ in the Spike Lee mini-series, “The Miracles’ Boys.” This led him to play Michael Lee on the critically acclaimed series “The Wire,” and Dixon Wilson, on the television series, “90210.” Since then, Wilds has appeared on multiple television series, including “Cold Case” and “Law & Order.”
In addition to his work in TV and film, he made his first appearance in music videos for artists such as Jay Z, Lil’ Flip, and Lyfe Jennings. A musician by nature, Wilds released “New York: A Love Story,” earning him his first Grammy nomination in 2014. Most recently, he appeared in Adele’s “Hello” music video, the fastest video to ever reach 1 billion views on VEVO. Wilds can be seen starring in the VH1 series, “The Breaks,” and Fox’s critically acclaimed drama series “Shots Fired.” He currently resides in New York.
LIMITED-EDITION, SABRINA CARPENTER INSPIRED SHARE A COKEBOTTLES
AVAILABLE FOR LIMITED TIME BEGINNING
AUGUST 24 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30
Hollywood Records recording artist Sabrina Carpenter is partnering with Coca-Colato offer fans limited-edition, Sabrina inspired, collectable Coca-Cola bottles in support of her new single “Why,” the lead track from Carpenter’s as-yet-titled third album, and The De-Tour North American headlining tour.
From August 24 through September 30 fans can go to http://buy.shareacoke.com/music to get one, or all four, of the special collection bottles featuring Sabrina’s autograph, the official De-Tour logo and select lyrics from her new single, “Why,” and shop Sabrina’s favorite Coca-Cola apparel including the fuzzy Coca-Cola polar bear slippers to the Coca-Cola can clutch. Through September 30, fans can also enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to meet Sabrina Carpenter at a special event this winter.
Carpenter recently performed “Why” on Live with Kelly and Ryan! The track was the No. 2 most added song on pop radio the week of August 15. In addition, the companion music video, featuring Riverdale’s Casey Cott, has amassed over 8 million views since its release last month. “Why,” co-written by Carpenter, Jonas Jeberg and Brett McLaughlin, is available at all digital providers HERE and all streaming providers HERE. Watch the “Why” official music video HERE.
The De-Tour, which kicked off July 6 in Vancouver BC, continues to bring a summer of fun and music across major North American cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Boston and Philadelphia before concluding on August 27 in Toronto, ON. The tour, presented by American Tourister, will feature special guests Alex Aiono & New Hope Club. For more information, please visit www.sabrinacarpenter.com.
“One of Britain’s most astonishingly talented songwriters” – NME
“a poetic creature who channels a mysticism, haloing his sounds with a timeless quality” – i-D
Isaac Gracie is pleased to unveil the video for his latest track,“The Death of You & I”which is from his forthcoming EP of the same title – out September 29th through Republic Records on limited edition 10” Vinyl as well as to stream and download. The Video was Directed by Tash Tung and features Isaac embracing the lyrics’ themes of frustration and destruction.
Isaac Gracie has quickly become a reliable name when it comes to releasing songs of depth, honesty and quality. Two EPs, one self-recorded and one live, and a towering recent Markus Dravs produced single “All In My Mind”, all had a very recognisable stamp of Isaac’s ear for melody and way with words.
This new EP, The Death Of You & I was largely recorded at London’s Eastcote Studios within the past couple of months, and whilst it doesn’t signal a change of direction from Isaac wholesale, it certainly suggests a versatility. The roaring title track, streaming now, sounds as though it could be soundtracking an old spaghetti western before it explodes with rage on its chorus line.
“Silhouettes of You” which follows is a soaring widescreen anthem of quite dizzying proportions. It doesn’t simply scrape the sky so much as slow-burns through it. It’s the lighters/mobile backlights aloft scorcher that should soundtrack ‘moments’ the globe over. A staggering anthem.
“For One Night”, Isaac enlisted the ears of serial collaborator Mura Masa, and the pair have written a tune that cris-crosses and weaves before piling straight into another kaleidoscopic punch of a chorus. “Love” (Ain’t Always So Good) is a hushed folksy story that most resembles the earlier tracks that featured on the introductory EPs. Tender and charming, it’s the sound of a young poet comfortable with dropping his words onto a page and re-arranging them emphatically.
Isaac orbits a musical world that is almost oversubscribed with talented young voices, but in truth he acts as the antidote to all of them. A modern musician who takes the tested inspirations of love and hurt, and portrays it vividly with that moreish, keening vocal of his. He’s the real deal, and The Death Of You And I EP is his most realized body of work yet.
