All posts by msmith

Watch Coldplay Cover “APT.” With Rosé In South Korea

Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” is one of the best pop songs in recent memory. You know it, I know it, and Coldplay know it. It’s why the galactic-scale pop-rock band welcomed the Blackpink alum to join them a few hours ago at Goyang Stadium in Goyang-si, South Korea. After Chris Martin sat at the piano and played a bit of “APT.” solo, the full band kicked in and Rosé burst onto the stage. She did her parts, and Martin filled in for Mars (as much as Chris Martin could be expected to fill in for Bruno Mars — very different flavors of cheese there). When the song was over, they ran it back a second time.

Album Of The Week: Samia Bloodless

“You don’t know me, bitch.” Near the end of her new album Bloodless, on a minimal ballad called “Proof,” Samia Finnerty unfurls those words as defiantly as one can when singing in a trembling whisper. In the most intimate moment on an album full of indie-rock confessionals, this is her message, delivered firmly even at a volume that suggests she’s trying not to wake anybody up. It’s addressed to a fickle flirt, a guy who loves her “like a child’s toy or cigarette,” but it’s possible to hear that quiet diss as a takedown of listeners who think they’ve got Samia pegged.