Pusha-T and SZA share stage with student band – The Miscellany News

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Screenshot 2015-04-22 at 8.13.29 PM Artists Pusha-T and SZA will perform for the College’s Spring Concert on Saturday April 25. Pusha-T, a rapper, and SZA, a soul and R&B singer, as well as the student group Bend, offer a wide range of styles. Photo by: Pusha T and SZA

The two pixelated figures on a ViCe poster have sparked wonder and curiosity since their appearance on campus. The puzzle is finally solved as ViCE reveals a different version of the poster showing who the performers are for this year’s spring concert. SZA and Pusha T, as recently released by ViCE Music, will be performing at the Spring 2015 concert. But before the blurry image of the two performers became clear to us, months of hard work and negotiation led to this point. .

Head of ViCE Music, the organization responsible for planning this event, Alex Adler ’16 spoke about the process of bringing outside artists to campus. “I have one [general body] of about 25 people and what we do is work with that middle agent and we discuss what we think the campus might like for the spring concert, ”he said.

Adler continued, “We put together a list of artists that we think are good and we go to the middle agent and we say ‘these are the artists that we are interested in’ and she responds to us if they are available, she gives the We see if it fits our budget and if the artist would be interesting or not.

Once the band members have decided on a few names, they open up the decision-making process to the student body to ensure that there is a wider interest in the show. While ViCE has executed this part of the process in several ways, Adler and ViCE Director Maya Toler ’16 have tried a different approach this year. “So what we did was we had a list of three artists and then we would ask the… GB to go around the retreat or when they were walking to the class or their members. class, mostly people they didn’t know and just randomly ask them “hey, would you be interested in seeing that person, or that person, or that person?” And then they reported to me at our board meetings. Basically that’s how we got to our names this year, ”Adler said.

As Adler’s predecessor and former director of ViCE, Toler has played a different role this year when planning and preparing for events. She described her new position in these terms: “I was there to help some kind of mold [Alex’s] vision and see what he wanted, but also try to balance that with what I think would work best and try to get everyone on the same page. I’m here to help him if he needs help with negotiations, paperwork, or anything like that.

Thanks to Toler’s experience and passion for music and ViCE, she was able to give Adler advice on how to choose artists for the spring concert, advice that might not be obvious without the knowledge gained. by Toler. Adler spoke about some ideas she shared with him: “One of the tips Maya has given me a lot this year is: don’t think about what the artist says outside of her music. I think a lot about what the artist might say on Twitter, or what they might say in the interviews, and I think about the offense a lot. But I have to remember that music is separate from that and art is separate from that and when we listen to art we have to separate it from the person as a person versus as an artist.

Toler echoed this sentiment and went into more detail on how to find musicians and artists who match the preferences of the student body, saying, “You can always find something wrong with someone, no matter what … One of the greatest things is trying to please everyone. . This year we tried a new formula with a bigger show. In the past, we would deal with responding to different demographics with each show, which worked. She continued, “This year everyone really likes a great artist in general and they love when great artists come in, so we’re experimenting with a bigger artist again. So we’ll see how it works – I think it’s going well.

To satisfy the interests of all, or at least the majority of the students, Toler and Adler worked to find a diversity of artists to present. Adler commented, “Pusha T is rap, and SZA is more of an R&B soul singer and we think it will actually be a really good medley. And then we also have a group of students, Bend opening for the whole show.

Bend is a student group founded by Sean Eads ’15 who add yet another genre and style of music to the lineup. Bend, which features Eads, Matt Mendoza ’15, Ben Parra ’15, Jeremy Katzenstein ’15 and alum Sam Judkis ’14, performed their first show together last December and the members have been working together ever since. Eads explained why he had created the group and his background in music: “The project itself that I formed in 2012, the summer after my first year with a friend from my home, who at the beginning was just production and business side… And then last semester I decided that I wanted to take these songs that I had already written and arrange them for a band and have my friends play with me here. He describes his music as a mix of genres, saying, “I would say it’s electronic pop with funk influences.

As Eads shifted from being a solo artist to working with band members, he had to adapt his music to work for the band. “We’re just looking for what sounds good and trying to make the songs that I’ve already recorded sound new, alive and fresh. What I’m going to do is bring in demos as I recorded them, and then we’ll figure out who’s going to do which part. They are all very, very good musicians, so it never takes very long – they get it right away. Or I’ll send them chord changes and they’ll figure it out.

Although Bend has performed on campus a few times, they weren’t on Adler’s radar until he stumbled upon their music and contacted them. Adler said: “Sean Eads was in one of my classes last year and I literally had no idea he was making music. Really, it was just a moment when I was in the ViCE office and someone was playing their music for me and I was like, “Shut up, is that a student? At first I was just going to open two student DJs, then I was like, “Oh, Bend wants to play,” so I was really excited that they were playing. “

SZA’s performance will follow Bend, and Toler has given the singer a nod to her exciting career prospects: a mix-tape coming out very soon. She’s booming with her career right now and she’s going to explode, I think, in the next few months.

ViCE is also showcasing a new feature of the Spring Concert this weekend, which they are excited to announce to students. “We’re doing tickets for the show, but it won’t be a paid show. Tickets are kind of like keepsakes, but every ticket has a number on it and then we’re going to have a raffle, a random number thing the day before the show. And we will publish the 30 winning numbers and those 30 people will be selected to meet SZA and Pusha T, ”Adler said.

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