Most musicians can only make money on the platform by writing songs inoffensive enough to get on to one of its vapid playlistsIn the hands of some of its most gifted practitioners, songwriting is a kind of emotional alchemy. For the past week, I have been returning to a perfect example: Every Time the Sun Comes Up by the US singer Sharon Van Etten, which was released in 2014. Its lyrics might be fractured and fragmented, but it is an almost perfect portrait of self-doubt and downward spirals: one of those songs that captures feelings so deep that they go way beyond words.I went back to that song as I read a superb new book that has both educated and profoundly depressed me. Mood Machine, by the New York-based journalist Liz Pelly, is about the music-streaming giant Spotify, and how it attracted its current 615 million subscribers, making a billionaire of its Swedish co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek. But its most compelling story centres on what Spotify has done to people’s appreciation of songs and the people who make them – much of which is down to the platform’s ubiquitous playlists.John Harris is a Guardian columnist. His memoir Maybe I’m Amazed, about his autistic son James and how music became their shared language, is published on 27 March. For more information, visit maybeimamazed.substack.com Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2025-03-09 16:38:43 UTC ]
Five years ago, when in her late twenties, Emma Gannon released her first book: Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online. It’s a funny and thoughtful memoir which charts her formative experiences on the internet as a Millennial woman born in the same year as the World Wide Web. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-03 14:05:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Shawna Kay Rodenberg recounts her childhood in a religious sect and in rural Kentucky. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-09-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Why did author Kate Clanchy get an opportunity to rewrite a memoir others called out as racist and ableist? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-09-03 10:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A memoir from Congressman Jamie Raskin goes to Harper, Penguin signs Coll’s last Afghanistan book, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
At Ploughshares, Kat Chow discusses Seeing Ghosts, her memoir that examines grief and sorrow through the lens of three generations of her Chinese-American family. “I’ve always been drawn to writing about the body—our physical selves and how they reflect our inner lives—and how our bodies are an... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-09-02 20:30:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hayley Mills, star of 'Pollyanna' and 'The Parent Trap,' is now 75 and has written a memoir about her life as a child actor under Walt Disney's watchful eye. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-09-02 13:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This film about Misha Defonseca, author of a ‘memoir’ about escaping the Nazis and sheltering with wolves as a child, is propulsively watchable“Sometimes a story is so astonishing it’s unbelievable.” So said a Massachusetts radio presenter in the 90s, introducing Misha Defonseca, a local Jewish... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-09-02 06:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Shugri Said Salh’s memoir strives for an accurate – rather than sensationalized or simplified – account of growing up in, and then fleeing, Somalia. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-08-30 19:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Exodus, Revisited” offers new insights about a woman’s break from her Hasidic community. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
His acclaimed fiction and a memoir had a common theme: alcoholism. After becoming sober, he called his former besotted muse “Drunkspeare.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-28 11:13:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“By the time I was born, the city had been conquered thrice, by the British, the Japanese, and the military junta. Three enemies to symbolize the three torments of the mind.” Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint on war, reincarnation, and the changing names of Myanmar. | Lit Hub Memoir Jeffrey Webb revisits... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-27 10:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Levy's memoir trilogy concludes with "Real Estate," pondering happiness and a new kind of home. Unlike Rachel Cusk, she keeps herself in the picture. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-24 15:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In her memoir “Seeing Ghosts,” the author recounts her mother’s death and her immigrant family’s numerous migrations, separations and losses, evoking the way grief entails a particular, perpetual sorrow. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-24 09:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins Ireland has scooped a "unique" memoir by the warden of Skellig Michael, a remote Irish island. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-22 23:51:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Georgina Pazcoguin’s biting memoir is full of melodrama. It also has an important message. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The American Ballet Theatre star has written a thoughtful collection of essays that gives readers insight into what it means to defy categorization. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Bodley Head has acquired two titles from German filmmaker and storyteller Werner Herzog, including a memoir. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 19:49:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The German film director has announced two new books: a memoir and The Twilight World, about a remarkable second world war officerWerner Herzog is writing a book about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender after the end of the second world war.The esteemed German... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-18 12:56:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Names for Light,” by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, is a memoir recounted through the stories of family members. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-18 12:41:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Mirror Books has acquired worldwide rights from The Can Group to Christine McGuinness' first book A Beautiful Nightmare. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 11:33:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this