Tag: Space

Spotify Uplifts Bold, Emerging Artists in Honor of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May 6, 2024

Around the world, Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists continue to impact music culture at large, extending far beyond K-Pop. As a whole, global interest in music from Asia is on the rise, including emerging subgenres such as Gacha Pop, Pinoy hip-hop, T-Pop, and Punjabi music. In the U.S. and Canada specifically, Asian diaspora stars are rising on Spotify. And this May, during Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APIHM), Spotify is celebrating and supporting the diverse community of artists and genres that extends across the diaspora.

API voices at full volume

Year-round, we amplify the work of talented API creators across the audio landscape through our Asian & Pacific Islander hub on Spotify. This month, under our campaign theme of “Sound Up. Stand Out,” we’ve refreshed the hub with new content. For music lovers, a great place to start exploring is Jasmine, our global flagship playlist featuring emerging API artists from around the world. For podcast fans, the hub includes a selection of shows and episodes from the API community. An audiobook shelf also features a range of titles across fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, and more.

Spotlighting up-and-coming artists

In recent years, Spotify has seen and supported massive growth in listenership for API artists like producer-DJ-vocalist Peggy Gou, jazz crooner Laufey, and indie rock star Mitski, to name a few.

This year, to amplify the next wave of API artists to watch, we’ve once again partnered with Gold House, the premier nonprofit collective of API leaders, on our Gold House Futures Music Accelerator program. This initiative aims to uplift API artists by providing them with opportunities to take their careers to the next level—and it’s working. Just last month, Futures alum thuy made history as the first Vietnamese American artist to perform at Coachella.

The 2024 class includes Chinese American pop queen Emei, Indian American singer-songwriter Paravi, and British Filipino rockstar Towa Bird. As participants in the Gold House Futures Music Guild, these artists recorded a new trio of Spotify Singles dropping May 15. They’ll also gain access to Spotify’s masterclasses, world-class mentoring sessions, and exciting editorial opportunities.

And with so much talent to celebrate across the API community, Spotify’s 2024 APIHM campaign is also spotlighting four additional up-and-coming artists: singer-songwriter Dhruv, pop artist Tiffany Day, rapper 8RO8, and DJ-producer Knock2.

“Spotify continues to champion emergent voices on our platform, with a focus on honoring the diversity within our diaspora,” said Sulinna Ong, Spotify Music’s Global Head of Editorial and the executive sponsor of SPACE, Spotify’s API employee resource group. “As the exec sponsor of SPACE, I’m honored to support the great work our Spotify band members do during APIHM and throughout the rest of the year to champion API creators and foster spaces of growth for the members of our community.”

Keep reading to hear from these rising stars.

Emei

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

My parents are Chinese immigrants who came to America in 1988 for education. They are the reason I’m able to pursue my dreams without hesitation, so to represent that community and to make them proud really does mean everything to me. I grew up with very little AAPI representation in pop culture and didn’t seriously consider pursuing this career because I never thought someone who looked like me could succeed in the entertainment industry. It’s an honor to be a small part of this exciting movement and change in culture.

Why are you excited to work with Spotify on the Gold House Futures Music Guild?

Spotify has been one of my biggest supporters ever since one of my first releases, “Late to the Party,” was placed on the Fresh Finds Pop playlist. I’m really grateful for the early and ongoing support, so it’s a dream come true to be able to partner with Spotify and Gold House for this upcoming Spotify Single. Super pumped to hear what y’all think of it!

Paravi

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

Humans are such complex and colorful individuals with so many unique traits and characteristics. It’s incredible to have another layer of the Asian Pacific Islander experience added to this existence, like the cherry on top of my personality, my sense of humor, and fashion—all the things that make me me. It informs what I create, how I create, and why I create, above all. I know the mission of fostering more diversity and representation in the entertainment industry may seem like a very heavy burden to bear on young shoulders, but it’s truly one of the many matches that lit my fire. I feel called to pursue my sparkly, glittery artistry and the most authentic version of myself, to heal my own inner child, and to see my most fantastical dreams become reality with my loved ones, but to also prove that it can be done, and that I, a brown girl from a cornfield in Ohio, can be the one to do it.

Why are you excited to work with Spotify on the Gold House Futures Music Guild?

The Gold House Futures Music Guild feels like a lighthouse guiding me to a new home, serving as an opportunity for me to not only learn from and observe this beautiful community of API creatives, but to become a part of it! I’m so deeply excited to soak up every new experience, every new relationship, and every bit of knowledge and wisdom these partnerships will offer. 

I’m also incredibly excited about the billboards and marketing to come for API month, not just because I’m full of myself and want to see my pores magnified across all of Los Angeles, but because I know that if I saw a giant poster of an Indian pop star on the drive home from school when I was a kid, my giant dreams would feel a bit more possible. I really hope a little Indian girl gets to see that billboard and feel that way, and I’m deeply thankful for Spotify and the Gold House team for creating the chance for that to happen.

Towa Bird

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

Being an artist from the Asian community means that I come from a heritage with such rich culture. I’m lucky to be able to write that into my songs. Also the food slaps.

Why are you excited to work with Spotify on the Gold House Futures Music Guild?

It makes a real difference that Spotify is willing to support and highlight artists from the API community.

Dhruv

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

Many of us API artists have grown up receiving the message that it isn’t realistic or wise to pursue a career in music, in large part because we have historically been underrepresented in the industry. I think it’s beautiful that in spite of that we find ourselves here, making art, continuing to uplift one another as we scale new heights as a community.

Tiffany Day

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

Growing up, I watched a lot of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, all the typical shows you watch as a kid. But for the longest time, all I could find myself thinking was, How do I look like these beautiful blonde girls on TV? I wanted double eyelids, sharper cheekbones, a nose bridge—I just wanted to look like those girls on my TV. Then I graduated from high school and all of a sudden, the monolid became a thing online. K-Pop came to the U.S., and everyone was celebrating the beauty of Asian women. I was surprised and also flattered that so many people called monolids beautiful. I stopped doing my makeup in a Western style, I stopped styling my hair pin-straight, and I stopped trying to blend into everyone around me in Kansas. I felt cool for the first time in my life.

To be given the chance to be that person for people like me, whether they are younger or older or the same age, is a priceless opportunity that I never thought I’d be able to receive. That’s why my identity as an AAPI is so important, because I truly believe a huge part of my purpose as a human being on this planet is to make others feel more comfortable, confident, and welcome in their own skin.

8RO8

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

To me, being an artist from the API community means showing kids from the islands that there are different ways to make it out. Hawaii has a vicious cycle that doesn’t allow for art as a “viable source of income” because it’s seen as a “risky career.” I’m here to try and inspire the keiki [children].

Knock2

What does being an artist from the Asian and Pacific Islander community mean to you?

My parents put everything on the line to immigrate to this country and give me the best opportunity they could in life, and I’m thankful every day for my family and community. I take every opportunity to show respect to my heritage, so this month means a lot.

Visit the Asian & Pacific Islander hub to immerse yourself in the music and voices of API creators.

How Wes Anderson and Randall Poster Immerse Audiences in the Folk-Western World of ‘Asteroid City’

June 19, 2023

Wes Anderson’s movies are beloved for their saturated palettes, abundant cast of characters, scene-setting, one-dimensional shots, and wide-ranging discussions about life, mortality, and art. His attention to the tiniest details of script, set, and story allow him to create truly immersive worlds that are made whole by the musical selections.

Wes’s 18th film, Asteroid City, takes place in the 1950s in an Arizona desert town—population 87—during a youth astronomical innovation contest. There, an unlikely combination of brainiac teens and their art-inclined parents are quarantined among scientists, cowboys, and schoolchildren following an alien encounter. It’s set to country western tracks tinged with swing, bluegrass, and skiffle—all carefully researched and selected by Randall Poster, the movie’s music supervisor. 

Wes Anderson on the set of “Asteroid City”

Randall was first introduced to Wes as the director was putting the finishing touches on the 1996 dramedy Bottle Rocket. The two met up in LA to talk movies and music, and they instantly clicked. Immediately afterward, they began work on 1998’s Rushmore, and in the 25 years since, Randall has served as Music Supervisor for all of Wes’s films, including The Royal Tenenbaums and The French Dispatch.  

Ahead of Asteroid City’s debut in New York and LA on June 16 and across the U.S. on June 23, Randall offered his musical insights and a few thoughts about the meaning of the movie’s meta storyline, too, in conversation with For the Record.

You and Wes are in constant communication before, during, and after production. Where did you begin with Asteroid City? 

Randall Poster. Photocredit: Taylor Hill

Randall Poster. Photocredit: Taylor Hill

The most important work that Wes and I do together is in between the movies. I’m generally in conversation with him as the story is evolving and as the script is coming together. We get in there, very actively, as the films are taking shape. So for the most part, we have some clues to pursue in putting together the musical component of the movie. 

For Asteroid City, we’d talked about the film as he was writing. In a lot of the other work we’ve done, there are songs that have come into play first. “Last Train to San Fernando” was something we identified—almost immediately—that would be for the movie. And that led us to explore the reaches of western swing and skiffle and all the various musical characters that played that music in that 1950s period.

So I listened to a lot of Bob Wills. We had used Burl Ives in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Roy Rogers is in the movie, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, and some great, legendary, perhaps lost for a moment musical characters. At one point we said, Let’s really hit these western swing/country western cowboy songs, and let’s hit them hard. 

I kind of lived in the period country western charts for a little bit trying to select what I thought were great songs and important voices to present to Wes, and then slowly but surely, he found places for various songs. 

How do you discover the music that’s used in the movie?

In researching, I try to be pretty exhaustive. Oftentimes, the research is trying to find the person or people who are the experts in that genre or era to tap into. I also do research that’s beyond lists, so you see what might have been a particularly poignant musical piece from that era to help also render time. In this instance, it also affected the place—Arizona. 

(L to R) Jake Ryan as "Woodrow", Jason Schwartzman as "Augie Steenbeck" and Tom Hanks as "Stanley Zak" in writer/director Wes Anderson's ASTEROID CITY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Asteroid City features a cowboy band whose performances enhance the story—even accompanying the students in their rendition of “Dear Alien.” Can you talk about the music behind it?

The music was written by Jarvis Cocker (Pulp frontman) and Richard Halwey, who’s a renowned English player and producer and old, old friend of Jarvis’s. They played live, on camera, in this irregular band featuring Jarvis; a banjo player named Jean-Yves Lozac’h who was also in The French Dispatch; Seu Jorge, who was featured heavily in The Life Aquatic; and Rupert Friend, who is really an actor, but was game to play a little bit of guitar, and he plays on the track. It’s a ragtag group of cowboys who come together, but they’re all basically guys who’ve been with us in other movies, doing musical things.

There is something really symmetrical about an “irregular” band coming together for the movie, considering how the rest of the characters come together too. 

Yeah—it’s actually a lot of bands of people. There’s the band itself. And then there’s the band of geniuses. And then there’s the band of little kids, the band of sisters, scientists . . . and that’s another detail that I appreciate. There’s so much creativity in every moment. I see something new every time I watch it. 

There’s those games that the genius kids play together, there’s the way they’re making up art projects, they’re making games, songs, dances up. It’s really a treat within the movie. I’m happy that I can be both within it and then also have the opportunity to stand outside of it and just admire it because it’s kind of a perfect thing. 

With Wes, least of all, you always know that it’s exactly the way that he wants it to be. 

(L to R) Rupert Friend as "Montana", Stephen Park as "Roger Cho", Hope Davis as "Sandy Borden", Jason Schwartzman as "Augie Steenbeck", Tilda Swinton as "Dr. Hickenlooper", Jeffrey Wright as "General Gibson", Tony Revolori as "Aide-de-Camp", Bob Balaban as "Larkings Executive", Mike Maggart as "Detective #2", Fisher Stevens as "Detective #1" in writer/director Wes Anderson's ASTEROID CITY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

What are some of the other ways that working with Wes is different from working with other directors that you’ve done music supervision for? 

I’m fortunate to have this kind of relationship with a couple of directors, but I just really appreciate the continuity and the commitment to the work. And again, this really relentless pursuit of capturing the spirit. 

Working with Wes, oftentimes, the music that we’ve pursued is just so rare, right? So whether I’m looking for cowboy songs, or Indian film scores or French pop music or balalaika recordings or orchestras, there’s this incredible variety in the musical landscapes that he imagines or intuits. 

The music is consistent throughout the movie except in two scenes: where the alien drops in, and where the wife/actress speaks from the balcony. How did the team score those moments?

We’ve been working with Alexandre Desplat for a long time, and Wes is very hands on in constructing the score and putting the elements together. If there’s a thematic connection, it’s his decision and creative impulse. 

It’s a tricky business because it’s a movie that’s really a play that’s also a movie that’s, at times, maybe a book, maybe being written at the moment—it’s so intricate, yet it’s presented so matter-of-factly. That’s sort of the miracle of Asteroid City. 

Wes Anderson directing Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks

The line of dialogue that prompts the movie’s finale is, “To wake up, you have to fall asleep first.” What does that mean to you?

I’m still trying to figure it out. It sounds so good and it sounds so logical, but I’m not exactly sure. I think it’s sort of a form of poetic meditation that, within the context of the movie, these method actors are using to find their characters. It’s also kind of surreal and absurd and comic in the way that it finds its way into the movie. 

Scarlett Johansson stars as "Midge Campbell" in writer/director Wes Anderson's ASTEROID CITY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Listen to more of Randall’s inspiration in his Asteroid City playlist.

Spotify and Gold House Name Anik Khan, Ruby Ibarra, and Thuy as Gold House Futures Music Guild Creators—And Share Why They’re So Excited for the Partnership

March 21, 2022

Asian and Pacific Islander creators have varied and dynamic stories to share—but issues such as economic inequity, media misrepresentation, and societal stereotypes often serve as barriers that keep their voices from being amplified. These roadblocks can—and must—be addressed in order for more API creators to share their music with the world.

To elevate the next generation of changemakers, Gold House, the premier nonprofit collective of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) leaders, has launched Gold House Futures. This initiative will advance the success of emerging API creatives, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders through investments with prominent partners, skill building for successful leadership, and world-class mentoring. And on the music side, Gold House is collaborating with Spotify to bolster three API music artists and give them the opportunity to take their music and their careers to the next level. 

After an open call for submissions, a selection committee of industry API titans (including Spotify representatives) whittled the entries down to a shortlist that reflected diversity both in ethnic backgrounds and genres. Ultimately, three names rose to the top: Bengladeshi American hip-hop artist Anik Khan, Filipino American rapper Ruby Ibarra, and Vietnamese American R&B artist Thuy.

Amplifying Voices for Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

April 26, 2021

Now more than ever, it’s important we celebrate and support our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Artists, influencers, creators, celebrities, and more have spent 2021 making their voices heard, and we stand with them in solidarity. In honor of AAPI Heritage Month this May, Spotify is continuing our ongoing efforts to amplify and lift up this community. Through this year’s campaign, we are spotlighting AAPI creators on Spotify, as well as inviting them to share their stories of pride.

Read on to learn more about our efforts to elevate AAPI stories. 

An on-platform hub for reflection and pride

To amplify the voices of our AAPI creators around the world, Spotify has created the AAPI content hub. The dedicated space houses leading AAPI voices alongside fresh new releases from creatives across the audio landscape.

Representation in singles, playlists, and art

To lift up our artists, Spotify is partnering with Audrey Nuna to cover “That XX” by G-DRAGON, a track that pays homage to her AAPI heritage. 

We’re also refreshing a number of playlists with updated covers highlighting AAPI and mixed-race artists, as well as adding new songs for listeners to enjoy. These playlists include Dope AF, a collection of work from leading cool Asian, femme women across the diaspora; .ORG, which shares the latest indie sounds from Asia; Desi Hits, a curated list of Desi hits from South Asia and around the world; and AAPI Pride, which celebrates artists who are queer Asian American or Pacific Islanders. 

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Shares How Music and Podcasts Made Groundbreaking Trip Extra-Stellar

March 23, 2020

NASA astronaut Christina Koch may have spent 328 consecutive days floating in space (the longest-ever single spaceflight for a woman), but her love for all things audio kept her firmly grounded throughout the journey. 

As part of celebrating Women’s History Month, For the Record recently spoke with Christina to talk about the role of podcasts and music for her and the crew, as well as her friends and family back on Earth. Read on to hear from Christina how Spotify was no “Space Oddity” on board and to check out some amazing photos from outer space. 

 

Blastoff Songs to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

July 15, 2019

There are more than 185,000 tracks on Spotify with “Moon” in the title—any of which are appropriate to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. On July 15, we’re queueing up the most popular of these “Moon” tunes, alongside some illuminating insights from NASA on how music is enjoyed in space. Songs like “Talking to the Moon” by Bruno Mars and Frank Sinatra’s iconic duet with Count Basie “Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)” are among the lunar tunes listeners love most. 

David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” are among listeners’ favorites, in addition to R.E.M.’s “Man On The Moon.” The list features several tunes titled “Moonlight,” including ones from Ariana Grande and Grace VanderWaal. 

According to NASA, it was customary for flight crews to be roused with wake-up songs played from Mission Control—tunes alluding to space or the sun rising were common choices. Along with being music lovers, quite a few astronauts also possess musical skill—and have even demonstrated it by rocketing instruments into space. Yet mastery of music in orbit is an even greater challenge than down on Earth.

“Playing a guitar without gravity is…messy,” says retired Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station, Colonel Chris Hadfield. “There’s nothing to hold it on your knee, or to suspend it by the strap, so it floats free, and every time you move your hands it wants to take off. I eventually learned to pinch it against my chest with my right bicep to hold it still. Even still, accurate picking was hard, and the muscle memory up and down the fretboard was wrong without the arm’s weight, so I overshot.”