Nearly four years removed from her latest studio album You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Gwen Stefani is ramping up for a comeback with Let Me Reintroduce Myself. After teasing one of its new songs, “Slow Clap,” on Instagram, she released the video today, complete with a guest appearance from pop-rap princess Saweetie.
The new song flows in the same vein as Stefani’s previous tracks with Eve: It’s got a dancehall/reggae vibe, upbeat lyrics, and a call-and-response chorus that encourages listeners to sing along. Even the video, which finds the two stars taking over a high school gym for some pep rally-style shenanigans, may remind fans of the video for “Hollaback Girl.”
Although Gwen hasn’t released much new music over the past few years, she’s been a hot commodity as a collaborator, working with her fiance Blake Shelton on “Nobody But You” and with dance-pop star Dua Lipa on the remix version of her album Club Future Nostalgia.
Meanwhile, Saweetie has been an in-demand guest star as well, popping up on Lil Tjay’s recently released albumDestined 2 Win, and preparing to feature on Demi Lovato’s next album. Her fans also believe a collab with Nicki Minaj is in the works.
Watch Gwen Stefani’s “Slow Clap” video featuring Saweetie above.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In June 2020, Blackpink debuted the video for “How You Like That,” which was then their first new song in a year, on YouTube. About 1.6 million people tuned in to watch the clip’s live premiere, which was a record for platform. Just a couple months later, that record was broken by BTS’ YouTube premiere of their “Dynamite” video, which is estimated to have had somewhere between 3 and 4 million people watching live. That is where the record stands today.
There’s one key factor those two videos have in common, both with each other and with every other video that has ever premiered on YouTube since the feature was introduced in June 2018: the countdown.
Every YouTube premiere is preceded by a colorful countdown that features vibrant, abstract animations and a clock ticking its way down to zero. Every countdown also includes the same song playing front and center, a two-minute instrumental track that stirs up anticipation with its nostalgic electronic synths, drum machine percussion, and orchestral string plucks. It comes across like a brighter cousin of Washed Out’s “Feel It All Around” (which is famous for the snippet of it that was used as the Portlandia theme song).
Commenters on YouTube re-uploads of the song agree, as they’ve shared a variety of feelings about the track. One person noted, “People in 2030/2040 will be like: This is soooo nostalgic!! Only real ones remember this.” Somebody else wrote, “This is honestly such a fitting song for YouTube Premiere countdowns, it just perfectly goes with your imagination running wild about what you’re about to see.” Another user painted a picture of the end of YouTube with “Space Walk” as the soundtrack: “I feel like this is something that would play in the final minutes of youtube before the site shuts down. Just this music and a few minutes to remember everything that has happened on this site over the decades before it all goes away.”
The song is beloved and has been heard millions (perhaps billions) of times at this point. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You,” the most popular all-time song on Spotify, has nearly 3 billion spins, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the YouTube premiere song — across every YouTube premiere ever, music video or otherwise — has been heard more times than that.
The odd thing, though, is that the story behind the YouTube premiere song and the identity of the person (or people, or something else) who made it is mostly a mystery.
Some answers about the track can be easily found: A quick Google search for “YouTube premiere song” reveals that the tune is called “Space Walk” and it’s credited to an artist named Silent Partner. Beyond that, it’s not immediately obvious where the song comes from. One thing we can tell is that the song wasn’t specifically made to be used for YouTube countdowns: The oldest uploads of the song on YouTube date back to early 2015, which pre-dates the premiere feature by over three years.
YouTube themselves offers a free download of the song as part of the audio library in their YouTube Studio, a set of back-end tools for video creators to freely use. The song’s listing there notes it was added to the platform in November 2014 and describes its genre as “ambient” and its mood as “bright.” Downloading the MP3 file of the song from YouTube and viewing its ID3 tags — metadata used by programs like iTunes (rest in peace) to indicate the file’s title, artist, and so on — doesn’t reveal much more info, aside from the fact that the album is listed as “YouTube Audio Library.”
As far as publicly available information about “Space Walk,” this seems to be the end of the road. However, we can learn a bit more more about Silent Partner, but not much more.
Silent Partner seems to be a Kevin MacLeod-type of artist. For those not familiar, MacLeod has made thousands of songs available under Creative Commons licenses so creators can use them for various purposes, and indeed they have. His work has become popular because of that fact and because he works in a variety of genres. In his vast library, there is bound to be at least one song that is suitable for any sort of project. If you’ve spent time on the internet, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ve heard his work.
Similarly, Silent Partner has “about 1,383” songs available in the YouTube audio library (which seems like too specific a figure to preface with “about”) and they’re listed under genres spanning from electronic to hip-hop to classical. All of the songs were added to the platform between September 2013 and November 2014.
Outside of the YouTube audio library, Silent Partner has a mostly silent web presence. There’s a SoundCloud account that has a bit over 2,100 followers and a YouTube channel with around 500 subscribers, both of which have uploads of some songs from the YouTube audio library. It seems that is the entirety of Silent Partner’s online footprint.
The most recent upload on the YouTube channel, a song called “Get Back,” was posted on July 3, 2016. The latest post on SoundCloud is from May 15, 2018, although the two most recent uploads before that are from 2017 and 2015.
The closest thing we have to any biographical info about Silent Partner comes from the About section of their YouTube page, which reads simply and appropriately, “…silently here…” It’s not clear if Silent Partner is an individual person, a band, a collective of artists releasing music under one overarching label, or something else entirely.
The only other “statements” we seem to have from Silent Partner are their handful of SoundCloud comments, which are mostly brief responses to positive feedback about their music and telling inquiring creators they are allowed use Silent Partner songs in their projects.
What we can gather from SoundCloud, though, is that it seems Silent Partner has an interest in Buddhism and/or meditation: The four accounts they follow on SoundCloud are Khyentse Foundation (which provides “support for institutions and individuals engaged in all traditions of Buddhist practice and study“), Samye Institute (a “place where students from all corners of the globe explore how to work with their minds in order to realize the liberating wisdom and compassion of the Buddha”), Tergar Meditation Community (which “supports individuals, practice groups, and meditation communities around the world in learning to live with awareness, compassion, and wisdom”), and Study Buddhism (which uploads podcasts about Buddhism). Most of Silent Partner’s liked tracks on SoundCloud are also about similar topics.
All of these biographical discoveries come with the assumption that these accounts are actually affiliated with whoever is behind Silent Partner. All of the uploads on both SoundCloud and YouTube were posted after the songs were made available on the YouTube audio library, so it’s completely possible that somebody who has nothing to do with Silent Partner downloaded a bunch of their MP3s and re-shared them to pose as Silent Partner. It’s not like a potential imposter would have had an established Silent Partner web presence with which to compete.
Beyond YouTube and SoundCloud, the only other online resource that seems to have info about Silent Partner is IMDb. On the site, Silent Partner has a few dozen credits spread across TV shows, movies, and other projects from between 2007 and 2021. Meanwhile, fans of various other creative endeavors have taken to the comments of Silent Partner uploads to share where they came across their music, like one person who heard a Silent Partner song in a video from mega-popular YouTube personality Miranda Sings (aka Colleen Ballinger), or others who discovered Silent Partner through Thunderf00t, who has nearly a million YouTube subscribers.
Despite a greatly appreciated effort, a YouTube representative was unable to provide Uproxx with more information about Silent Partner or how “Space Walk” was chosen as the YouTube premiere song. SoundCloud direct messages sent to Silent Partner by Uproxx have also gone unanswered. Last year, an attempt by a BuzzFeed journalist to get in touch with Silent Partner via the comments section of a SoundCloud upload was also not fruitful. It’s not just us who wants to know more about Silent Partner but can’t get a hold of them.
Somebody out there made this music, but for some reason, they’ve opted to not come forward and claim their deserved praise. Maybe anonymously enjoying the success of “Space Walk” is enough for them. Maybe they’re somehow unaware of the impact their compositions have had. Maybe Silent Partner is no longer with us.
So, who or what is Silent Partner? That question has two answers. One is that Silent Partner is the artist behind “Space Walk,” one of the most-heard pieces of music of the past few years. The other is that we don’t know who they are and perhaps never will, making the answer to this question one of the premier unsolved musical mysteries of our time.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
There appears to be hope on the horizon in terms of the ongoing pandemic, as more and more people are getting COVID-19 vaccines by the day. While the world is gradually opening back up, events that would draw large crowds are still mostly not happening quite yet. It may seem surprising, then, that Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas is going on with its 2021 event. Furthermore, it’s happening surprisingly soon, as the festival is set for May 21 to 23.
Pasquale Rotella — the founder and CEO of Insomniac Events, the company behind EDC — shared the news last night, noting that organizers “are moving forward as planned & will be working closely with local & state officials to make the show as safe as possible” and that “more details on safety protocols & the lineup will be shared soon.” He offered no indication that the event — which usually draws about 125,000 attendees per day, as Billboard notes — will be hosted in a reduced capacity, writing, “You can expect the full EDC experience with no details spared, from the festival grounds to the music, stages, art, performers, artists & fireworks!”
This news arrived shortly after Dr. Anthony Fauci said the number of new COVID-19 cases in the US is currently at a “disturbingly high level” and noted that the country could experience a surge in new cases. He concluded, “Hang in there a bit longer. Now is not the time, as I’ve said so many times, to declare victory prematurely.”
Check out Rotella’s post below.
“Electric Daisy Carnival is finally on the horizon. There were times during the pandemic when many of us lost hope. We were challenged to learn & listen to our hearts & trust that the storm would eventually pass, making way for a bright & sunny future for those in our community & around the world.
With the world being shutdown for over a year, I’m happy to announce we’re on our way to being able to celebrate in person. Book your flights, hotels & shuttles — EDC Las Vegas is on for May 21+22+23!
We are moving forward as planned & will be working closely with local & state officials to make the show as safe as possible. You can expect the full EDC experience with no details spared, from the festival grounds to the music, stages, art, performers, artists & fireworks! I look forward to seeing all your beautiful faces & feeling your incredible energy, and I couldn’t be more excited.
More details on safety protocols & the lineup will be shared soon. If you’re unable to attend in May 2021, no worries, but you’ll be missed. You can go to the link in my bio to transfer your ticket to 2022.
We’re ready to spread our wings & embrace our community who we miss so much. We know there may be challenges in front of us, which we will accept & do our best to overcome. We’ve been apart for a long time & I can’t wait to join you, united, Under the Electric Sky.”
Polo G has grown to be a favorite out of the new class of rappers for many hip-hop fans. The Chicago native has released countless songs that have proven his stay in the rap game will be far from temporary. The rapper continues his run with his latest single, “Rapstar,” a boastful effort that discusses his rising stardom and position in the rap game. He talks about his impressive performances on songs, the money and the women he’s involved himself with since his 2019 breakout, and the expected hardships and struggles that come with adjusting to fame.
To push the message even further, he shared a video with the track that shows him buying cars for friends, flying aboard private jet with a number of women on board, dealing with an annoying group of paparazzi, accepting a position in the hip-hop hall of fame, and more. The new track continues what’s been a decent streak of 2021 releases from Polo G. This list includes his “Headshot” collaboration with Lil Tjay and Fivio Foreign, “Richer” with Rod Wave, and “GNF (OKOKOK)” which was paired with a Cole Bennett-directed video. All of it arrives after the Chicago native dropped what was one of the more impressive rap album of last with The Goat.
For the past couple of years, the singers that are housed under Drake’s OVO Sound collective have been delivering impressive projects. Roy Woods returned last year with Dem Times, DVSN blew listeners away with A Muse In Her Feelings, and PartyNextDoor broke out from his cage with PartyMobile. While all of these projects were welcomed with open arms, there was a noticeable absence in the mix of it all; Majid Jordan. The alternative-leaning duo has left fans hanging without a new full-length effort since their 2017 project, The Space Between. Thankfully, it seems like that drought will come to an end as the duo returned with their new single, “Waves Of Blue.”
The song was initially premiered on a recent episode of OVO Sound Radio through their new Sound 42 station on SiriusXM. The new track errs on the pop side of things as its upbeat free-floated production finds Majid Jordan pouring their heart out to an unnamed individual. Despite declaring that they’re no good for them on the new track, the duo seeks nothing more than to spend time with their love interest and enjoy the moments that come with it.
As for Majid Jordan’s last release, you can revisit their 2019 track, “Caught Up” with Khalid here.
Press play on the new track above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
This Saturday will mark a week since DMX was admitted into a White Plains hospital after a reported drug overdose that resulted in a heart attack. Unfortunately since his hospitalization, the rapper’s family and friends have not been given the peace of mind to spend uninterrupted time with DMX as they’ve been forced to deny and clarify multiple reports on his condition. On Thursday night, they were forced to do this once again as social media reports announced that the rapper passed away at the age of 50. Many of the posts were deleted minutes after they were shared, but it was far too late as the initial news traveled far and fast in a short time.
As a result, the rapper’s manager, Steve Rifikind, who is also the co-founder of Loud Records, took to Instagram to deny the reports about DMX’s death and beg that people stop spreading rumors about the rapper’s condition. “Everybody please stop with posting these rumors, DMX is still alive,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram page. “Yes, he is on life support, but please, it’s not helping anybody by having them see these false rumors. Let the family relax for a night, you will be hearing a statement from the family some time tomorrow. I’ve been with DMX for the past three years, so the only thing I ask is just stop with the rumors. He is still alive and he is on life support. Thank you.”
The false reports came from a number of accounts. One example was from actress Luenell who shared a pair of posts to her Instagram posts, both of which are now-deleted. The first said, “It is over my friend is gone (sad face emoji)… Soar w/ the (dove emoji)… Join the best that ever did it… RIP… DMX.” The second, which seem to clarify the previous post, said, “When your spirit leaves and your organs fail you. The body becomes just a shell. One becomes wrapped in the Lords arms. That what “I” call gone. Im sorry to all. #DMX.” Fashion account @saint also shared a tweet, writing, “BREAKING: DMX has passed away at the age of 50.” That post was also deleted.
Doja Cat’s popularity and stardom has increased over the past year and some change thanks to the massive success that was rooted in her sophomore album, Hot Pink. The project delivered successful records that included “Say So” and “Streets” and helped the full-length effort endure as run that lasted almost two years. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and it seems like Doja ready to move on to the next chapter in her career, with her upcoming third album, Planet Her, which she previously confirmed was complete. The campaign for the upcoming project now begins with “Kiss Me More” collaboration with SZA.
The new song is definitely one that will fit onto the soundtrack for the impending summer. Packed by bubbly production and high-spirited verses from Doja and SZA, the song finds the ladies flaunting their physical attributes to the men that surround them. It also arrived with a music video that features an astronaut who lands on foreign all to discover Doja Cat and SZA as the majestic beauties that seem to call that area home.
The song should spark what would be an impressive run towards the release of Planet Her, which was confirmed for a summer 2021 arrival in a press release. During a sit down with Fat Joe last September, Doja shared an update on album. “It’s all ready. I hate that I’m holding onto it right now,” she said. “I see everybody’s like, ‘Put it out’ … You have to plan things accordingly and there’s a lot going on.” She also shared a list of potential guest features from included The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, French Montana, Megan Thee Stallion, ASAP Ferg, Saweetie, and Young Thug.
Hit play on the fun new single in the video above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While Brent Faiyaz has been impressing listeners over the past couple of years, the collective that he’s also a part of, Sonder, has been rather quiet since their 2017 project, Into. All of that hopefully changes tonight as the group returns with a brand new single. Backed by Faiyaz’s vocals and production from Atu and Dpat, the trio that is Sonder drops “Nobody But You,” which includes a gust appearance from Jorja Smith. On the track, Faiyaz plays a poor-performing companion in the eyes of Jorja, but in recognizing his faults, he promises to improve his ways. Jorja, on the other hand, is extremely skeptical of this declaration as she notes he only cares about himself and no one else.
Prior to the release of Sonder’s new single, Faiyaz dropped his “Show U Off” single in honor of Women’s History Month. The track featured production from Atu and Dpat and arrived with a video that spotlighted the many women that seemingly played a significant role in the singer’s life. It arrived after Faiyaz joined Tyler The Creator for “Gravity,” which was shared as a part of Adidas’ Songs From Scratch series.
Jorja Smith on the other hand is a few weeks removed from her “Addicted” single, which arrived not too long after her “Come Over” collaboration with Popcaan.
Lil Nas X has been the talk of both the entertainment and style worlds for the past couple of weeks. He ruled the former as a result of his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” single, one that left fans divided due to its depictions of hell in its music video. Despite this, the song debuted at No. 1 on the singles chart this past week.
As for the style world, his “Satan Shoes” collaboration with MSCHF, which was a customized Nike Air Max 97 pair, brought even more controversy for more than the pentagram and single drop of human blood that was featured on the sneaker. MSCHF also earned themselves a lawsuit from Nike based on trademark infringement and trademark dilution claims, among other accusations. Now, more than a week after Nike filed the lawsuit, both parties have come to an agreement on the matter according to Billboard.
Nike and MSCHF’s settlement reportedly doesn’t see either party losing or gaining anything significant. The terms of it require MSCHF to ask all consumers of the “Satan Shoes” — as well as the “Jesus Shoes” that the company released years ago — to voluntarily return the sneakers for a full refund. A statement from Nike also notes that any purchaser who experiences a “product issue, defect, or health concern” as a result of keeping either pair should not reach out to them, but rather MSCHF.
The full statement from Nike on the settlement can be read below.
On March 29th, Nike filed a lawsuit against MSCHF over its release of Satan Shoes, which used a Nike Air Max 97 as the base. MSCHF also previously released Jesus Shoes, which used a Nike Air Max 97 as the base. In both cases, MSCHF altered these shoes without Nike’s authorization. Nike had nothing to do with the Satan Shoes or the Jesus Shoes.
Today, April 8th, Nike and MSCHF have agreed to settle the lawsuit.
As part of the settlement, Nike has asked MSCHF, and MSCHF has agreed, to initiate a voluntary recall to buy back any Satan Shoes and Jesus Shoes for their original retail prices, in order to remove them from circulation.
If any purchasers were confused, or if they otherwise want to return their shoes, they may do so for a full refund. Purchasers who choose not to return their shoes and later encounter a product issue, defect, or health concern should contact MSCHF, not Nike.
The parties are pleased to put this dispute behind them.
Giveon is undoubtedly one of the brightest and most talented faces in the latest class of R&B artists. It’s a title he claimed in 2020 thanks the release of his Take Time and When It’s All Said And Done EPs. Even though they were both highlights of last year’s R&B releases, Giveon continues to ensure that both projects receive additional shine in 2021.
The latest example of this comes with the Long Beach singer’s daytime TV debut on Ellen. It’s here that he delivered a slow-burning performance of “Heartbreak Anniversary.” Backed by a guitar and pianist, Giveon let his baritone vocals fly for the passionate performance.
The performance comes after Giveon earned his first No. 1 single thanks to his contribution to Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” track, which also saw a guest appearance from Daniel Caesar. The achievement was one of a few highlight moments that occurred this year for the Long Beach native. He also took his talents to NPR’s Tiny Desk for a dazzling set that included performances of “The Beach” and “Stuck On You.” He’s also just weeks removed from the release of When It’s All Said And Done… Take Time, which combined his 2020 EPs into one project with the addition of “All To Me.”
You can watch the “Heartbreak Anniversary” performance above.
When It’s All Said And Done… Take Time is out now via Not So Fast/Epic Records. Get it here.
