So you’ve seen plenty of people talking about their shirt-selling business and how it’s become pretty successful. So you go over to their website and look at their designs, only to discover that it’s fairly boring, bland, and honestly a bit cheap. You think “hey, I could do that too!” and so you start your own website, start looking at printing services, and set up Shopify so you can automate the process. You make a few designs, upload them, and then you put your website online.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that selling t-shirts as a business is simple, but the reality is more complex. However, with Gelato’s printing on demand services, you can simplify the process and turn your t-shirt business into a profitable venture. Discover the ins and outs of selling t-shirts as a business and how it can make it easier by visiting Gelato.
Investing in SEO for your Shopify business will be crucial for your long-term success according to Shopify SEO expert Digital Cornerstone, who has turned many online stores into goldmines for their clients.
But after a few days without a sale, you might start to rethink the difficulty of selling shirts as a business. But why? What are you missing and why is it so difficult to sell shirts as a business?
Everyone has t-shirts and yours aren’t worth their time
You might think that your designs are great and that you deserve to have more sales. But let’s face it, the only person that cares about your t-shirts is you. Even if you give them away, people aren’t likely to care about them because it’s not from a major brand, it’s not from a reputable influencer, and nobody they know owns anything from you.
So let’s face it; your t-shirts aren’t worth the customer’s time. Nobody knows you, your brand isn’t popular, and your designs probably aren’t that great because you made them in a few hours. So where do you go from here?
Make sure the product you offer is good
Before you start charging people for products, it’s worth checking out the quality of your shirts especially if you’re dropshipping them. For example, Gildan t-shirts are generally a good starting point in terms of value and comfort, but you should make sure to examine the print quality and the overall construction of the garment before you start selling them.
If it’s not good enough for you to wear, then you shouldn’t sell it to your customers. If you put a strong focus on quality, then you’ll almost certainly grow a loyal following. Equally important is selecting the right printing technology for different fabrics. While DTF printing machines are excellent for producing vibrant and durable prints on a variety of textiles, other techniques like sublimation or screen printing might be better suited for specific materials and design requirements.
How to make people care about your brand
One of the very first things you should think about is how to create content around your message and your brand. You could try finding a copywriter to write something about your brand message, you could get on social media to talk about how your brand is different, and you can generally just be honest about why you started your brand in the first place. Of course, you can’t just say “because I wanted to make money”. You need to give your audience a message that they can resonate with.
For example, maybe you wanted to offer Japanese-inspired clothing because there’s not enough of it in the west. Maybe you’ve been inspired by South African clothing and want to use similar patterns and colors to create a brand-new range of inspired fashion pieces. Whatever the case is, you need to be honest and transparent if you want to get people to care about your brand.
If you love your shoes, then you should make sure that they’re kept in the best condition at all times. Your shoe game is worth preserving, after all. Especially given the fact that your collection is likely to be one of the most expensive parts of your entire wardrobe. Here are some tips to help you take better care of those shoes.
Be careful putting them on and taking them off
It might sound like the most no-brainer piece of advice, but some people have some pretty bad habits about how they put on and take off their shoes. First of all, make sure you put your shoes on when they are open. Don’t put on laced shoes, unlace them first. Similarly, do not take off your shoes by stepping on the back of them with the other foot and then lifting the foot out of them. Both of these can warp the shape of the shoe over time. If you need to use a long-handle shoe horn to take them off more easily, then you should.
Keep a tree for your most used ones
Maintaining the shape of the shoe is going to be one of the most vital aspects of maintaining your shoes. To that end, while you should rely on more closed forms of storage for your more expensive and less worn shoes (more on that later), a shoe tree can be a great thing for those that you’re going to wear every day or every other day. You hang the shoes from the tree by hooking the back of the heel onto them, which causes them to hang in a way that preserves the heel shape and doesn’t flatten the top.
Keep them out of the elements
For your other shoes, you should keep in mind how bad the elements can be for them. Dust can cause the color to fade. Moisture can cause them to lose their shape. Even direct sunlight can be bad for them, bleaching out the colors and wearing out the fabric. To that end, getting a shoe storage cabinet and shoe racks for your home can be vital. It can help keep them out of the way and also make sure that they are well organized. This way, you can make sure that you don’t have shoes on top of shoes in a pile that squishes the bottom ones.
Know how to care for them
Of course, you should also know how to care for particular shoes. Leather shoes are going to be the most common type that requires a little extra specific care. This can include making use of polish and shiner to help them not only retain their great looks, but also the suppleness of the material that prevents them from drying out and cracking over time.
Your shoes are worth taking care of, to make sure that you can keep rocking them and keep your choices as versatile as possible. There might be more specific ways to take care of certain types of shoes, too, so keep doing your research when you get a new pair.
LCD Soundsystem have unveiled their new special, the LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special, on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by and starring Eric Wareheim, the special also features Macaulay Culkin, Aparna Nancherla, Jon Daly, Christine Ko, and more. It opens with a ’90s-inspired sitcom called All My Friends that sees comedians and actors portraying members of the band. It’s followed by a pre-recorded performance that includes the band playing the 2015 holiday single ‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’ for the first time ever, which has been released on Amazon Music as ‘christmas will break your heart (live holiday special edition – amazon original)’. Check out clips from the special below; the full thing will be available for Prime members for a limited time.
“I’ve already conquered film, James has conquered music, but we have yet to conquer the sitcom — the highest form of art,” Wareheim said in an earlier statement. “We’ve been working on this project for 15 years, and for this show, we’re unveiling a uniquely emotional perspective of the sitcom universe for the holidays — provided by one of the greatest bands of all time and my dear friends, LCD Soundsystem. I can’t believe Amazon Music is letting us do this.”
“I am similarly stunned that someone let us do this,” Murphy added. “At least we finally get to use our Korey puppet.”
Over this past weekend, LCD Soundsystem were forced to cancel the last three shows of their residency at Brooklyn Steel due to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in New York. “We certainly had enough cancellations to make the vote count, but we also, now with all the new info, want to stop for our own sakes,” the band wrote on Instagram.
Grimes has shared a new music video for her recent single ‘Player of Games’. With a story and creative direction by Grimes, the Anton Tammi-directed visual sees Grimes facing off against a villain called The Dark King, who is portrayed by Andreï Pishchalnikov. Watch it below.
‘Player of Games’, which Grimes co-produced with Illangelo, arrived earlier this month. The track also appears on the soundtrack for the latest season of the video game Rocket League. Grimes’ most recent LP was 2020’s Miss Anthropocene.
Sondre Lerche has shared a cover of Doja Cat’s ‘Kiss Me More’, the latest installment in the Norwegian musician’s annual holiday tradition of covering one of the year’s biggest pop hits. Check it out below.
Lerche’s take on ‘Kiss Me More’ follows his renditions of Selena Gomez’s ‘Bad Liar’, Ariana Grande’s ‘thank u, next’, and Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s ‘Rain on Me’. Talking about the cover, he said in a statement:
Hey there,
As I am writing this, I am sitting in producer Matias Tellez’ studio in my hometown, while he’s scrambling to get this year’s Holiday cover ready for anyone who’s into that sort of thing. I still haven’t nailed all the vocals, and we’re a little delayed, our self-imposed deadline is 6 minutes away.
It’s the 10th year Matias and I share this ritual, which I started in 2009: an interpretation of a hit song I’ve enjoyed in the year that’s about to close.
I feel those big shared positive experiences are more important than ever, so the need for big unifying hit songs is strong, and this year we were in immediate agreement that we wanted to interpret “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat featuring SZA.
This is a song that’s made me feel good whenever I’ve encountered it this year. The chords are warm and soft, and there’s much melodic gold in both the hooks and the rap verses. SZA’s verse, especially, is a melodic goldmine, so this morning I asked Matias if, instead of me singing it and ruining it, we could represent it instrumentally to highlight the elegance of that ever-evolving melody. It’s so good!
We’ve been working on the song since last night, and per tradition everything is done in 24 hours, before we share it with followers, fans and friends.
It’s been another rough, weird year, and I suppose we’re not nearly where we hoped to be in terms of pandemic and other crucial issues that plague our existence. I’ve felt extra lucky to be on a continued creative roll this year, leading me to finish a new album that I’m beyond ecstatic to share more from and about soon. There’s lots to take in and talk about. It’s been a thrill to share first single “Dead Of The Night” this fall, along with the prospect of touring the world and seeing people again. I do still have hope that it will be possible.
And I hope that this version of “Kiss Me More” can bring some extra joy to you. Thanks for listening, following and taking care of yourself and your community of loved ones and beyond.
In a year as strange as 2021, it seemed that for a song to stand out, it couldn’t be just one thing. It had to be anthemic and intimate at the same time; danceable yet incisive; playful but self-aware. Like most great things, great songs have bits of both the past and the future living in them, and this felt especially true in a year where time moved differently. Many artists were able to expertly capture this fog-like feeling over the course of a full-length album, but some of the most enduring musical statements came in the form of a single song. Whether they were accompanied by albums that were released this year or not, these are songs that had a unique impact on their own and helped us make sense of a world both rapidly changing and permanently changed. Here are the 25 best songs of 2021.
25. MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers, ‘Silk Chiffon’
‘Silk Chiffon’ treads a very fine line between being insufferable and irresistible, but no matter where you place it, it’s hard to deny the song’s addictive nature. More importantly in a year like 2021, it was also refreshing: a breezy and buoyant expression of queer love that remains just that for the entirety of its runtime, so much so that when Phoebe Bridgers – founder of MUNA’s new label home Saddest Factory Records – comes in to sing about feeling anxious inside the CVS, even she can’t help but be persuaded by the “Life’s so fun, life’s so fun” refrain. This collaboration is anything but lifeless, but the soft guitars and pillowy synths are such an apt evocation of the song’s titular metaphor that it almost has the effect of sucking any and all personality out of it – which somehow makes it resonate that much more. Love it or hate it, that’s how it feels.
24. Claire George, ‘Northern Lights’
Claire George has described the artwork to her debut album, which was inspired by the loss of a loved one to substance abuse, as “a portal to another dimension, which is how I like to think of the memories I’ve written into these songs.” ‘Northern Lights’, a heart-wrenching highlight from The Land Beyond the Light, channels treasured memories from the relationship – “videos of you dancing with your best friend’s mom,” being held in the rain during a mental breakdown – but begins as an expression of present longing: “I just want to joke around/ Kiss your mouth in the basement of your parents’ house.” As the minimal beat subsides, George zeros in on the moment that grief starts taking hold, the feeling of slowly losing someone before they’re gone. Then it kicks back into motion, as things have to, the memory of her ex “flickering like the northern lights” mirrored George’s aching, perfectly implemented falsetto. This isn’t melancholic pop as a means of escape, but a portal to a universe that seems just out of reach.
23. Silk Sonic, ‘Leave the Door Open’
It would take another eight months for Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak to come through with their collaborative album as Silk Sonic, but debut single ‘Leave the Door Open’ was an early preview of the best that the R&B super-duo had to offer. There are a few things one has to bring up when discussing Silk Sonic – some variation of the words “’70s retro pastiche,” followed by a comment about the amount of technical detail with which the duo execute it. ‘Leave the Door Open’ recreates those sounds as meticulously as any other track from the LP, but it’s also one of the best examples of the duo’s infectious songwriting and sense of humour, a seduction ballad consumed by the subject of romantic infatuation more than its own retro aesthetic. It’s a pure rush, which makes the fact that it didn’t get old fast an impressive feat.
22. Pom Pom Squad, ‘Lux’
The music video for Pom Pom Squad’s ‘Lux’ pays direct tribute to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides by recreating several shots from the film, channeling the song’s titular character – who becomes the main character in this retelling – while reflecting frontwoman Mia Berrin’s own experiences at the time that she wrote it, when she herself was a teenager. Although it serves as one of the shorter and more riot grrrl-inspired tracks on the band’s debut album Death of a Cheerleader, it stands out as one of its most potent statements: in striking a balance between nostalgia and personal expression, Berrin gives a voice to a point of view that remains invisible on-hscreen, condensing a novel’s worth of alternate narration into some of the year’s most incisive lyrics. “In a crowded high school dance/ In a cloud of peach alcohol/ I let myself get drunk on the idea that you loved me,” she sighs, nailing the film’s aesthetic before externalizing a hidden truth: “In here I’m suffocating/ But out there I feel so small/ What a wonder to be anything at all.”
21. Billie Eilish, ‘Happier Than Ever’
‘Happier Than Ever’ begins as the kind of wistful ukulele ballad Billie Eilish has excelled in from the start, evoking the quieter, more introspective corners of her abrasive 2019 debut. The title track to her sophomore full-length would be a highlight even if it stayed in this mode – so affecting is her expression of heartbreak – but the fact that her haunting whisper turns to a full-throated scream as the track builds to its soaring climax makes it the cathartic rock moment that Happier Than Ever teases for most of its runtime. As chaos erupts around her, Eilish doesn’t get swept up in the explosion, maintaining an incredible level of focus and vulnerability: “Always said you were misunderstood/ Made all my moments your own,” she sings, but this one feels entirely her own, and entirely heart-wrenching.
20. Squid feat. Martha Skye Murphy, ‘Narrator’
‘Narrator’ is thrilling because it encapsulates so many of Squid’s musical strengths, but the reason it worked so well as the lead single to their debut album was that it’s exhilarating all on its own, even removed from the context of the record or the experimental outfit’s prior material. Stretching over nearly nine minutes, the track is initially propelled by a tight, nervous rhythm reminiscent of the band’s post-punk influences, but as drummer and vocalist Ollie Judge sings lyrics like “Losing my flow and my memories are so unnatural,” that structure begins to dissolve and give way to frenzied chaos that becomes all-consuming. The voice of Martha Skye Murphy creeps in to rupture the main character’s unreliable point of view, claiming more space and offering an element of release before both voices fade to black, as if waking from separate dreams.
19. Beach House, ‘Superstar’
Beach House are experts at layering out each element of a song, as if recreating a dream, piece by piece, until it resembles the same sort of magic. But on ‘Superstar’, a highlight from the first chapter of their upcoming double album Once Twice Melody, that dream is already far behind: it’s the sound that loops in your mind during a long drive in the middle of the night, when a shooting star trailing across the sky becomes a metaphor for a failed relationship. “When you were mine/ We fell across the sky/ Backlit up against the wall,” Victoria Legrand sings, in a chorus that stands out as one of the group’s most hypnotic and immediately affecting yet. The only interest the singer shows in the present lies in a photograph that has now taken on a new resonance – “Something good/ Never meant to last.” As they attempt to stretch a moment of the past out into infinity, you’ll want to aid in the effort by playing the song over and over again.
18. Magdalena Bay, ‘Chaeri’
Magdalena Bay aren’t just interested in emulating the pop sounds of previous decades. Their ever-expanding DIY universe is equally rooted in vulnerability, which often means digging into your own emotional past; their debut album Mercurial World is filled with infectious bops, but none is as immediately affecting or resonant as ‘Chaeri’. “I’m sorry, did you feel lonely?” Mica Tenenbaum asks from the jump, reflecting on her relationship with a struggling friend. “I didn’t realise back then it was really that bad for you.” Atop a meticulous array of synths, her vocals become all the more wrenching, as if re-inserting herself in that situation ignites a long-simmering ache that has only now come to the surface. As it continues to grow, the singer fails to reach any direct resolution – but before the song cuts off, she has no choice but to embrace the uncertainty that surrounds her.
17. Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow, ‘Industry Baby’
In the lead-up to his highly anticipated debut LP, Lil Nas X followed up ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ and ‘Sun Goes Down’ with another chart-topping anthem, and an explicitly queer one at that. But in the context of an album that impressed for its emotional vulnerability and confessional moments, ‘Industry Baby’ is also a triumphant banger that boasts one of Lil Nas X’s catchiest hooks to date. With a memorable guest verse from Jack Harlow and colourful production by Take a Day Trip and Kanye West, Nas flaunts his success and snaps back at skeptics who dismissed him as a one-hit-wonder, reveling in his own self-mythology and remaining unapologetically authentic in what might be the most fun pop song of the year. “Funny how you said it was the end,” he raps, “Then I went did it again.”
16. Half Waif, ‘Party’s Over’
Half Waif’s Nandi Rose is comfortable writing from a place of solitude; so much of her catalog is about coping with your own aloneness. On ‘Orange Blossoms’, her first song since 2019’s The Caretaker, she reminds us that the process is ongoing: “Somebody make me think I might be worth something,” she sings, powerless and desperate. But she plants seeds of growth that blossom on the single’s B-side and a stand-out from this year’s Mythopoetics, ‘Party’s Over’. Not being invited to the party forces her to once again be present with herself, but this time, she doesn’t come up with some sort of fantastical escape; the music video simply shows her walking away from the center of the action. This vulnerability is reminiscent of Billie Eilish’s similarly titled 2019 single, although ‘Party’s Over’ shares its pop sensibilities more than its haunting tone of resignation. Building out from a stark electronic backdrop, Rose imbues the song with the kind of richness and fervour that makes self-acceptance seem not only possible, but liberating.
15. Strand of Oaks, ‘Galacticana’
When it came to channeling the cosmic, existential feeling that fuelled his latest Strand of Oaks record, Tim Showalter wasn’t quite satisfied with the word “Americana.” So he came up with his own term, one that encompasses all the different sounds and sentiments that pour out from his music. Written at the start of the pandemic, ‘Galacticana’ is not only a striking reintroduction to Strand of Oaks, but, fittingly, an anthem of togetherness: “I believe that ecstasy happens when we all get together,” Showalter sings, assuring listeners his aim is to uplift – even when faced with insurmountable loss. As much emotional weight and subtlety as there is to the song – most of which resides in Showalter’s outstanding vocal delivery – its atmosphere is warmly inviting and the hook infectious, and that guitar solo really drives the point home: whichever corner of the universe you come from, you’re welcome to join the party.
14. Indigo De Souza, ‘Hold U’
One of the most dynamic indie rock debuts of the year, Indigo De Souza’s Any Shape YouTake has no shortage of cathartic moments. The sleek R&B of ‘Hold U’ might be the easiest to groove along to, but of all the different forms of all-consuming love that come to light on the LP, the single also serves as the purest expression of it. It might carry a lighter touch than some of the Asheville songwriter’s more visceral offerings, but the warm intimacy of the track helps to elevate its message of communal devotion, and De Souza delivers it in a manner that’s both sincere and infectious: “You are a good thing, I’ve noticed,” she sings, and it’s the feeling of being seen that’s more validating than the affirmation that precedes it. In promising to keep her loved ones close, De Souza makes the necessary act of self-love seem like less of a daunting task.
13. Lala Lala, ‘DIVER’
The myth of Sisyphus serves as a metaphor for eternal struggle, but Lala Lala’s Lillie West sees the romance in it. Inspired by Kate Bush and Jennifer Egan’s novel Manhattan Beach, ‘DIVER’, off her striking third album I Want the Door to Open, pulses with a universal kind of yearning: “I want it all, it’s palpable,” she sings against a simmering electronic backdrop. The production might sound skeletal at first, but the cinematic strings and dynamic drumming by Nnamdi Ogbonnaya thrum with possibility, a freedom that West embraces in the heady chorus, where she imagines herself “Swimming out towards my new life/ Dragged in by the undertow.” The narrator might be playing a character, but accepting that performance as a part of reality – a journey with no particular destination – makes the effort itself strangely rewarding.
12. illuminati hotties, ‘MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA’
Even for a track titled ‘MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA’, there is a lot going on here. On the first single from illuminati hotties’ latest album Let Me Do One More, the tone is one of unhinged euphoria, sneering derision, and playful irreverence, and Sarah Tudzin jumps between each mode with such speed it’s like she’s inhabiting all these voices at once. At all times, though, it’s clear the lyrics and the instrumental are speaking the same deranged language, one that only makes sense in the illuminati hotties universe but draws you in with hooks that are simply explosive. You might have trouble decoding lines like “Love me, fight me, choke me, bite me/ The DNC is playing dirty/ Text me, touch me, call me daddy,” but it all comes together into one of the most wildly exhilarating tracks of the year – and before you know it, you’ll be singing along.
11. Ethel Cain, ‘God’s Country’
‘God’s Country’ isn’t the most immediate song on Ethel Cain’s Inbred EP – for that, you’ll have to go to ‘Michelle Pfeiffer’ or ‘Crush’ – but split between the record’s lighter and darker sides, it serves as a shining example of her unrelenting vision. It took six months for Hayden Anhedönia – the Florida-born songwriter behind the project – to write the track, which went through at least ten versions before she settled on the eight-minute epic that appears on the EP. Although “emerged with” might be a more fitting term, as Anhedönia had to start over from scratch three days before the final mixes were due, lending the song a dramatic urgency that pervades its carefully crafted coming-of-age narrative. “I just want it to sound as big as possible,” she said in our interview earlier this year, “but it’s like, it’ll never be big enough, because how are you supposed to capture the expanse of human emotion and the world in a song?” Finding hope in letting go of the dream, and with a guest appearance from Wicca Phase Springs Eternal that embodies the sense of comradery that colours the song, ‘God’s Country’ comes tantalizingly close.
10. Olivia Rodrigo, ‘good 4 u’
No song better represented the sound of the pop-punk revival in the mainstream this year than Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘good 4 u’, as evidenced by the fact that more people talked about its similarities to the singer’s apparent influences and lesser-known contemporaries than the song itself. But while those same people will have most definitely lost interest in the debate of who owns the cheerleader aesthetic by now, there’s a reason this breakup anthem still sounds as ferocious and resonant as it did upon its release in May: Rodrigo treats the familiar stylings of the genre less as a vehicle for nostalgia than pure emotion and storytelling, existing in the same world as the melancholy ballads that preceded it rather than representing a departure from it. “Maybe I’m too emotional,” Rodrigo admits, her self-awareness quickly weaponized: “But your apathy is like a wound in salt.” It’s obvious she’s not afraid to channel her rage, and she’s not the only one – but few of her peers sound so joyously defiant doing it.
9. The War on Drugs, ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’
‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ started out as a bedroom recording in Adam Granduciel’s home studio, but in its final form, it offers a sweeping moment of transcendence made for the biggest arenas. When critics talk about the War on Drugs’ fifth LP being their most accessible and immediate to date, no song fits that description better than the title track, with vibrant synths, massive guitars, and gospel backing vocals from Lucius augmenting its magnetic hook. As anthemic as it is, the song captures the elusive feeling of things falling out of grasp, as Granduciel vacillates between memories of the past and the urgency that punctuates the chorus. “I’m gonna make it to the place I need to go/ We’re all just walkin’ through this darkness on our own,” he sings. That place never quite snaps into view, but the War on Drugs are ready for liftoff regardless.
8. Snail Mail, ‘Valentine’
Quiet-loud dynamics are an essential component of some of the best rock songs, but few implemented them with more urgency and intention this year than Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan. The title track and lead single to her sophomore album, Valentine, doesn’t so much represent a shift to a more expansive sound as it highlights the 22-year-old’s ability to control and release tension at just the right moment to amplify the conflict that sits at the heart of her music. The story she tells on ‘Valentine’ is non-linear yet heartbreaking, the creeping devastation of the verses and explosive directness of the chorus capturing a whirlwind of emotion and time, a broken relationship whose ghost still feels achingly present. “As long as it’s us two/ Fuck being remembered, I think I was made for you,” she confesses, her tone suddenly growing accusatory: “So why’d you wanna erase me?” As it crashes and burns, there’s nothing quite as thrilling as watching a world of bombast and intimacy collide.
7. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen, ‘Like I Used To’
‘Like I Used To’ could have been purely symbolic, a collaboration between two of the most revered songwriters of the past decade that simply cemented their status in the indie world. But whatever expectations you might have brought to it, the song somehow lives up to every single one of them. ‘Like I Used To’ finds Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen at the height of their powers, delivering a triumphant anthem that brims with confidence but aches with longing for a kind of rebirth that’s never satisfied. No matter how big and expansive John Congleton’s production sounds, their voices sound raw and emotive as they drift through a fog of memories. Yet despite the elusive nature of the lyrics, which streak by like a flash of lightning through the dark sky, the song is full of heart, grandeur, and thunder, a swaggering moment that feels entirely earned.
6. Low, ‘Days Like These’
The first half of Low’s ‘Days Like These’ rings with a visceral and desperate kind of clarity, but the object of desire remains ever so slightly out of focus. Together, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker sing with force as they strive towards some sort of unity, their voices dancing around a strikingly simple melody. But the space between them and their surroundings, so deftly captured by producer BJ Burton, is blurry and vast. The haunting, distorted hymn inevitably corrupts upon itself, giving way to a spectral ambience where any hint of emotion dissolves into abstraction. It may not exactly resemble transcendence, but it doesn’t come off as a form of surrender, either. “No, you’re never gonna be released,” they sing earlier, but the outro feels like just that: a release of tension, as transformative as it is ambiguous.
5. Porter Robinson, ‘Look at the Sky’
Putting out a genuinely life-affirming song in the middle of a pandemic might seem like a futile effort, but Porter Robinson was up to the task. First teased in May 2020 and released in full this January, ‘Look at the Sky’ is a soaring highlight off the Atlanta producer’s long-awaited sophomore LP Nurture, one that radiates hard-won optimism even as it confronts his struggles with writer’s block and depression: “Are you close?/ Shouldn’t it come to you naturally?/ And everyone knows/ You’re losing your gift and it’s plain to see.” But rather than clouding its message of hope, acknowledging the feelings of self-doubt – captured deftly through Robinson’s production tricks – makes it resonate on a more universal level. If it’s carried us all through the year, it can carry us into the next: “Look at the sky, I’m still here/ I’ll be alive next year.”
4. Japanese Breakfast, ‘Be Sweet’
Between her best-selling memoir, her fantastic third album, a video game soundtrack, and her first Grammy nomination, 2021 was a momentous year for Michelle Zauner. No single could have ushered in the new era of Japanese Breakfast more vibrantly than ‘Be Sweet’, an ‘80s-inspired dancefloor jam co-written with Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum. Driven by buoyant synths and a funky bassline, it finds the singer-songwriter, who started the project as a means of grappling with grief, wholeheartedly embracing the pursuit of joy – and all the complications that entails. “Be sweet to me baby/ I wanna believe in you/ I wanna believe in something!” she urges, and it’s the shift from you to something that suggests this is less a portrait of a relationship at a vulnerable moment in time, which Zauner so intricately renders in the verses, and more of a poignant character study. Two years ago, she tweeted that the theme of Jubilee was shaping up to be “please just be nice to me” – ‘Be Sweet’ may not sound that far removed from that description, but by filling in the details, it makes the rush of euphoria sound utterly possible and infinitely arresting.
3. Lucy Dacus, ‘Thumbs’
On ‘Thumbs’, Lucy Dacus uses a simple premise – the narrator accompanies a friend to a bar where she meets up with her absent father – to invoke a universe of feeling. Although written during a 15-minute car ride, the Virginia singer-songwriter had to perform the song live for three years to master the chillingly unwavering performance she delivers on the studio version. “I would kill him if you let me,” she seethes, sounding both raw and stoic in her furious determination. So vividly does she lay out the scene that you wouldn’t hesitate to be her accomplice. We don’t learn much about the relationship in question, but there are clues (“Honey, you sure look great/ Do you get the checks I send on your birthday?”), and by the time she sings about her friend’s nails “digging into my knee,” you could cut the tension with a knife. Besides Dacus’ voice, the spare backdrop is more than enough to set the atmosphere, the tides of white noise mirroring the depth of her emotion. For all the anger that she weaves into it, ‘Thumbs’ is most visceral for its display of compassion: Letting go of her dark fantasy, she holds on to the person in front of her and spills out a truth that will resonate with anyone listening: “You don’t owe him shit even if he said you did.”
2. Ada Lea, ‘damn’
“Every year is just a little bit darker/ Then the darker gets darker/ Then it’s dark as hell,” Ada Lea sings on ‘damn’, the standout opening track from her second album one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden. Over light guitar strums that propel the song forward, we follow the narrator’s train of thought as her mind wavers between observing the party she’s at and untangling the web of everything that’s wearing her down. She focuses her attention on someone grappling with substance use; “seeing them struggle brought out this other story that felt bigger than just that one person,” she explained in our interview. In a similar way, her list of grievances – which include things that would otherwise be a source of comfort, like “the song that’s spinning and trying to lift us up” – add up to a kind of existential frustration. But though catharsis comes later on in the album, if at all, ‘damn’ is a song that grips you rather than dragging you down, a sweeping ode to the wonder of being totally in the moment and out of it at the same time, completely alert and alone, grasping for something greater.
1. Cassandra Jenkins, ‘Hard Drive’
‘Hard Drive’ has all the markers of a great song, but in less capable hands, it could easily slide into the background or out of your mind entirely. Shuffling together spoken word, breezy saxophone, and a subtly uplifting groove, the centrepiece of Cassandra Jenkins’ An Overview on Phenomenal Nature documents a series of conversations that tell us as much about art, politics, and life as they do about the characters themselves – a security guard, a bookkeeper, a driving instructor, a healer – and the narrator’s own headspace. “Oh, dear, I can see you’ve had a rough few months/ But this year, it’s gonna be a good one,” one of them tells her; another advises her to “leave room for grace.”
Rather than making the song stiff or impenetrable, almost as evidence, Jenkins stitches these memories together in a way that feels genuinely revitalizing, softening around the edges and generously slipping a melody into the chorus. The result is a marvel of empathy and a testament to the power of music to shift the energy of whatever place you’ve found yourself in. You don’t need to be able to trace a line between Jenkins and someone like Laurie Anderson to appreciate what ‘Hard Drive’ has to offer: I’ve played this song to many people this year, and no matter the context, it never fails to fill the room with warmth, wonder, and indeed, grace. You catch each other’s gaze, fall into it, close your eyes, and move along: One, two, three.
As an employer, one of your biggest challenges is ensuring your team is able to work as efficiently as possible. They only have eight hours a day in the office on average, so you need to set them up to be as productive as possible in this limited time.
But being a good boss is not about squeezing as much labour as possible from your workforce. This mindset will lead to unhappy staff, poor quality work, and a high employee turnover. You also have a responsibility to ensure your staff are happy and look after their mental and physical health.
So how can you maximize the productivity of employees without sacrificing their quality of life? There are several ways you can nurture a high-functioning, happy team, and here are four tips to get you started.
Create a positive work environment
A happy employee is a productive employee, a fact that has been proven by several workplace studies. Creating a positive work environment, in which your team feel comfortable and valued, will enable you to get the most out of your staff while simultaneously being respected and liked by your employees. There are several ways to create an office that people look forward to entering each morning, but the best way to go about this is to listen to your staff and ask them what could be improved about their environment. Small gestures like providing tea, coffee, snacks and other refreshments can make a big difference to people’s happiness, as well as aesthetically pleasing items like plants and artwork. Encourage socialising within the team, and schedule extracurricular activities like dinner and drinks on a Friday evening or fun activities like bowling and escape rooms. During these pandemic times, it’s equally important to keep your employees as safe as possible. Employees who feel that their employer is taking all possible steps to protect them from COVID-19 are more likely to feel happy and productive. Providing onsite employee coronavirus testing in Los Angeles can help prevent an outbreak at your office since tests can help break the chain of virus transmission.
Supercharge human resources
Human resources is the department of a company tasked with hiring employees and ensuring they are happy and productive. Depending on the size of your business, this might be a specific team, or it might simply fall under your own responsibilities as a manager. The most important of your human resource planning objectives is to maximise your employees, who are your business’s most valuable asset. This starts at the hiring process. By being more careful at the recruitment stage, you can find the perfect employees for your company and assign them to the roles where they can make the best use of their skills. There are plenty of human resources management tools and strategies that can transform your business, so consider the benefits of adopting new organizational structures and ways of working.
Optimise meetings
Meetings are one of the biggest productivity black holes in any business. Although they are always scheduled with good intentions, they end up being padded with small talk and repetition with only a small amount of real substance. Optimize your meetings by shortening them and reducing the quantity. This way, you and your employees will be more pressed to make better use of the limited time and will get more done before returning to your desks.
Embrace flexible working patterns
The traditional nine-to-five working structure is a thing of the past. With advances in collaboration technology and the challenges posed by the global pandemic, more and more companies are embracing flexible working as the new norm. Hybrid working has gained traction as a way of optimising productivity and employee satisfaction by allowing staff to divide their time between the office and their homes. As a manager, you need to accept the way the business landscape is going and be forward-thinking. Allow your staff to have more say over their own working patterns. This doesn’t mean you need to pack up your office and let everyone work permanently from home, but you could start with small steps. Allow people to choose their hours, allowing them more flexibility in their lives to attend to personal matters like childcare and medical appointments.
As long as you have adequate collaboration technology in place, there is no reason why a team that works from home should be a barrier to success. They will be happier, with better mental health, and will therefore enjoy their job more and want to work harder. You can still check in with them remotely and have them come into the office occasionally. Before long, you will realise that this truly is the future of the workplace.
In conclusion, if you want your employees to be more productive, you need to look after them and value them as human beings. Give them more control over their working patterns and strive to make their workplace a positive, social environment.
Data Shows That Non-Work Environments Foster the Best Conversations Research consistently highlights the value of non-work environments for sparking meaningful and creative conversations among employees. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that informal settings encourage more open communication by reducing social hierarchies and perceived pressures associated with formal workspaces. When team building activities happen outside the office, they are more likely to engage authentically, share ideas freely, and collaborate effectively. Engaging in team-building activities, sharing a meal, or simply stepping outside provides opportunities for genuine connection.
For example, researchers at Stanford University discovered that walking meetings increased creative thinking by 60%. Physical activity and relaxed settings often stimulate innovative problem-solving and promote a sense of camaraderie. These interactions build trust — an invaluable trait in the workplace. Non-work environments also allow employees to view each other through a broader lens, seeing beyond their professional roles. This is particularly significant as research by MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory has shown that teams with stronger interpersonal connections demonstrate higher productivity and better performance. Casual settings, such as a team lunch or outdoor outing, remove the constraints of office decorum, allowing team members to relate to one another on a personal level. Whether it’s a collaborative game, a walk in the park, or an offsite brainstorming session, giving employees space to engage outside the office can lead to deeper conversations, stronger relationships, and creative breakthroughs
Lorde has shared a new music video for ‘Leader of a New Regime’, a track from her latest album Solar Power. The clip was directed by Lorde and Joel Kefali, who also helmed the previously unveiled visuals for ‘Fallen Fruit’, ‘Mood Ring’, and the title track. Watch it below.
Solar Power, Lorde’s third LP following 2017’s Melodrama, came out in August.
Desiree Perez, the social justice champion who serves as Roc Nation’s chief executive officer, has once again sought to use her company’s influence and expertise to lift up those in need.
On November 18, entertainment giant Roc Nation hosted a job fair at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. More than 6,000 people attended the event.
The intent was to provide an opportunity for social mobility among New Yorkers who want to work but had not had the connections or opportunities to find the right jobs.
Roc Nation, the global music, entertainment and sports management company, led the event in partnership with the REFORM Alliance, an advocacy organization for criminal justice.
Perez, who founded Roc Nation with longtime collaborator Jay-Z, said the event was an opportunity to help boost the New York economy but also to connect some of the best and brightest employees in the area with leading companies from around the country.
Approximately 10,000 jobs were available at the fair from more than 60 employees. Roc Nation and the REFORM Alliance were among those offering open positions.
Among the notable corporate employers that were interviewing applicants at the job fair were:
Amazon
Foot Locker
The 40/40 Club
Hot 97
JP Morgan
Live Nation
Lowe’s
Madison Square Garden
The National Football League
The New York Yankees
PUMA
SiriusXM/Pandora
Spotify
Tiffany & Co.
Union Square Hospitality Group
VICE
Warner Music Group
Zara
Jobs offered were available at every skill level.
In addition to job opportunities, the job fair continued many of the themes that have been a trademark of Desiree Perez’ storied career – social justice, equity and opportunity.
The fair offered services and opportunities to build career skills. The services to boost career development were offered at no cost to attendees. They included interview prep, resume building and ideas for how to dress for success. Access to professional attire was also provided.
Organizers of the event provided haircuts and professional headshots for attendees. In addition, legal services providers were on hand to help formerly incarcerated people to expunge records to ease the job search.
Jadakiss, one of many notable artists Roc Nation represents, was on hand to provide some words of encouragement. He urged attendees to “keep your C.A.P. on” and focus on character, attitude and personality.
Many of the services offered focused on supporting those who had previously been incarcerated. Robert Rooks, CEO of the REFORM Alliance, noted that it is extremely challenging to get a job if you are on parole or probation. A felony conviction can lock you out of many opportunities, he noted.
Commitment to Justice and Philanthropy
Throughout her career, Desiree Perez has been focused on giving back. Prior to becoming Roc Nation’s CEO, she served for many years as the company’s chief operating officer. In that role, she developed and oversaw multiple programs focused on social justice and philanthropy.
She was also instrumental in the development of the REFORM Alliance, which fights for criminal justice reform, with a special emphasis on prisons and probation.
Perez established Team Roc, the company’s racial and social justice arm. The aim was to have a platform to provide support and amplify the voices of those who are traditionally underserved and marginalized by society.
Among the causes that Roc Nation and Team Roc have championed recently include:
Sean Bell, who was killed in a 2006 police shooting. This was the first case that Roc Nation took on. Jay-Z established a college education fund for Bell’s children
Montavious Smith, a Black man who was arrested at a Memphis shopping mall. Police claimed that Smith was wearing a hoodie, which was a violation of the mall’s dress code. When Team Roc took up the case, they discovered that the mall had a longstanding practice of discriminating against Black people via its dress code policy. Perez and her team got the mall to drop the policy, which led police to drop the charges
Perez worked with families in the legal aid system to sue over inhumane living conditions on behalf of 150 incarcerated people at the Mississippi State Penitentiary
Perez has also helped to launch the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment at Long Island University and provided scholarship support to help New York students. Earlier in 2021, she was appointed to the board of The Parent Company, a California cannabis company. She leads the management of a fund to provide support for underrepresented people in the industry.
Suppose you have to travel regularly as part of your occupation or lifestyle choice. In that case, you will understand the pain you experience on a boring journey, staring aimlessly out of the window or trying to distract yourself from the irritating behavior of your fellow passengers on public transport.
Indeed, the amount of time wasted commuting to work or while traveling can add up to a scary number of hours. You only have a short amount of time during the course of your life, so there is no point wasting a significant chunk of it doing nothing.
Instead, it is a good idea to find a compelling distraction- this is where gaming comes in.
Gaming has become huge over the last decade, allowing you to experience the thrill of a virtual world via your laptop or smartphone. As a result, you can use the time wasted on public transport to play online games, which can provide endless entertainment.
This is how gaming can entertain you if you regularly use public transport:
You could try online poker
One of the most compelling types of game you can use to entertain yourself on public transport is online poker.
This is because you can experience the excitement of poker without having to find a casino or invest serious amounts of money.
Instead, you can find legaluspokersites that allow you to play poker while commuting on public transport.
There are countless different games you can play on your phone
The beauty of gaming in 2021 is that many popular titles are available to play on your smartphone. This makes it incredibly easy to pick up whenever you have a free moment during your weekly commute, or while travelling to a new country.
This option is ideal if you want to remain discreet while gaming. Perhaps you only want to play casually, or avoid attracting attention to yourself from other passengers.
Similarly, you may not have enough time or space to bring a more immersive gaming setup. This is especially true if you use a crowded metro system which might not even allow you to find a seat during rush hour.
While away wasted hours gaming on your laptop
However, if you are planning on making longer journeys, it may be best to bring your laptop. Not only will you have better access to your work documents and streaming services, but you will also be able to immerse yourself in more serious gaming titles.
While smartphone games are ideal if you want a quick distraction, laptop-based games are perfect if you have a few hours to kill and you have a table handy.
These games can be incredibly nuanced, requiring a great level of participation and concentration on your part. The reward is that you can take your mind out of your immediate surroundings and lose yourself in the virtual world.
Playing games can keep you in contact with distant friends
It may be that you are traveling countries alone – whether for work or for pleasure. Whatever the reason, long journeys can be lonely when you are on your own.
An underappreciated advantage of online gaming is that it allows you to keep in contact with your friends through the medium of multiplayer modes.
You can catch up on old times by playing together, find out what they are up to, and experience the same team spirit as you might find playing ‘traditional’ sports like soccer.
