CAL Business

Frank Ocean and the Millennial Mindset Frank Ocean's rise to stardom was a meteoric one. Within the last two years, the star has quickly established himself as one of the most powerful artists in the industry. His debut album, Connect, was certified Diamond last year and spawned 2 #1 singles, with the follow-up EP Lux spawning 2 more. And last month, the star dropped the highly anticipated Pull Into Me, the lead single from his sophomore album. However, what is perhaps more impressive than Ocean's grip on the charts as one of the most successful male artists at the moment, is the way his music so deeply resonates and reflects the zeitgeist. With the announcement of his new album, entitled Sometimes I Think About Dying, But Then I Remember Life Is Beautiful is perhaps the best example of this. Ocean's music taps into a deep, oft ignored part of the millennial experience - the complexities of navigating through mental health, sex, and love. Few artists tackle such broad and universal topics, and even fewer succeed in making a genuine impact with their work. But Ocean's latest song in particular, Do You Know How It Feels to Be Alone?, delves deeper into that darkness that plagues the minds of so many in ways rarely seen before. Frank Ocean's songwriting taps into the darkest, perhaps ugliest parts of our minds - but does so in a way that feels universal to anybody. We all struggle with love and sex, and are plagued by mental illness, now more than ever. Studies report that an increase in depression and anxiety is reported in millennials, and one can imagine has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 Pandemic that cost so many their lives, and set forth an economic recession that will spread its effects for years to come. What Ocean does with his music is not paint the truths we all face in a pretty light, but rather, display perhaps the ugliest parts of it. He does so in a way that feels authentic, honest, and relatable to anyone and everyone. Pop music enthusiasts are constantly obsessed with finding the new hot topic, the latest new star that will burn bright and burn fast before moving on to the next. Ocean's latest single, Pull Into Me, debuted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, his lowest debut since 2018's Loneliness. But what many fail to see is that while others may burn brighter, Ocean's music has the potential to define and reflect an entire generation's mindset for years to come. @Harry_CAL

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Belinda & Maluma's Comeback? Well Not What You Think! Almost a year since their divorce and their break-up going public, Belinda & Maluma make a comeback at the World United stage with a performance of their 2018 hit single "Fuego" which topped the charts and became a global smash. The "Criminal" singer introduced her by saying: "We need to stick together and remember we are all humans trying to be alive. This is time for forgiveness and hope. So this is why, I want to welcome in my next guest". The two then gave eachother a big hug and started to peform the song. The stage's fire machines started to blast every few seconds while Maluma and Belinda sing and fance to the beat of the song. Today, the two posted a picture of of them both hugging on Connect, what set social media on fire. This reunion a few months ago would've seemed completely impossible. Shortly after their divorce announcement in July of last year, the 25 years old superstar got exposed by Belinda herself with a nude photo uploaded on her Connect account, which quickly became viral with over 1m likes on Connect and 800k mentions on Twitter. Shortly after, Maluma posted on his Connect account a video of him crying saying he was "so mad about this". He continued by saying: "All I have to say is that, Belinda, we could've worked this out in private. If you are still angry at me, God knows why, you could've reached out and we could've just, I don't know, talked. I have tried." Since then, his millions of fans and followers have supported him online. Belinda's accounts were suspended and several of artists tweeted in favor of Maluma. Fast forward to August of last year, Maluma and Zendaya confirmed that they are datng. The couple first confirmed their relationship through a Connect post where the two were seen walking together holding hands with a caption saying: "she never loved you anyway @zendaya 💭". Since August and despite several rumors of a break-up, the two are confirmed to still dating to this day.

Praise To Lana Del Rey Encore Offers Free Service Until End of April The streaming service "Encore" which launched in June 2017 and became within a year the #1 streaming service worldwide, now with over 72m users, have officially announced that due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, they will be offering their full services until the end of April for free. Encore is a freemium service, meaning that basic features are free with advertisements, while additional features, including improved streaming quality and offline music downloads, are offered via paid subscriptions. The music streaming is projected to increase due to this deal. The decision was pushed by non-other but Lana Del Rey who has led the fight against COVID-19 with her raising over 75 million dollars with the help of the various organizations who will be sponsoring the 2020 "Freedom Festival" which wil be held in early May. Encore, being one of the sponsors, have confirmed a total donation of 5 million dollars and their free services until the end of April. In their official statement, they said: "Encore believes we should stand together with soliditary and a common faith, so that we will overcome any adversity and jointly build a better future. We will be donating $5m to the Coronavirus Relief Fund and will also offer our services for free starting next week and until the end of April" The streaming service has also launched the "World United" playlist featuring all of the songs performed on Oprah's and CAL Tube's arranged global event which is set to air later today. The playlist would replace the New Music Friday playlist until next week.

LANA DEL REY RAISES $75M TO BATTLE CORONAVIRUS Lana Del Rey have raised 75 million dollars to fight the coronavirus. Lana Del Rey has announced last night that she has worked with the companies sponsoring the 2020 "Freedom Festival" which wil be held in early May and have raised 75 million dollars in total to fight against COVID-19. In her post, she stated that the money will go to various organizations with a mutal goal to battle the virus and help those in need. Del Rey will be revealing the specific donations during World United concert which will be held on Wednesday. The "Forget Me" singer, who has recently became a 17 times Grammy winner after sweepng 5 Grammys at the 2020 Grammys, also publicly invited world leaders, CEOs, celebrities, business owners and more to reach out andn join. The post garnered over 2.4 million likes and over 2.2 million mentions on social media in general. In response to the big news, Oprah who curated the World United event along with CAL Tube responded and thanked the singer for using her platform to help people around the world. She said: "Thank you Lana Del Rey for leading this incredible goal to help the world with the kindness and solidarity that is in everything you do. We must be thankful for the generous donations from the big corporations and their will to fight COVID-19 and protect humanity." Another corporation which joned this wave of kindness was Universal Music Group who have earlier announced that they will be donating $20m to battle COVID-19. Various artists have also done their part with Lorde announcing yesterday about her generous donation [$3.5m] to different charities supporting COVID-19 relief efforts following her talked-about post on Connect, where the artist apologized for poor timing. The star has also announced that all of her music sales until the end of April will be going directly to the World Health Organization for relief efforts. Maluma and Brendon Urie donated a total of $3m and has made all the profits this week made by their #1 record breaking single "God Complex go to the Corona Virus Relief Fund. The Grammy winning artists also encouraged their fans to post a picture of themselves with #CoronaRelief in order to raise awareness and in return, they will be sending instruments, headphones, posters, xinyls and more for their fans. Shawn Mendes has donated a total of $2m to World United and an additional $200k to The American Nurses Foundation, an organization supporting the brave men and women on the frontlines fighting COVID-19. Lindsay Lohan's brand "LILOSKIN" along with Clarins Group have made a donation of 500,000 bottles to the "world's most vulnerable homeless people". In their statement, they said: "As a wellness company, LILOSKIN is always at the forefront of personal health. Our new Hand Sanitizer is formulated with four ingredients: isopropyl alcohol, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide and purified water, and does not include any added fragrance or oils. The Hand Sanitizers will help reduce the spread of the Coronavirus while keeping everyone safe." Troye Sivan and Hilary Duff have also donated a total of $2m each.

SUPERSTARS UNITE TO FIGHT COVID-19 Maluma and Brendon Urie donated a total of $3m and has made all the profits this week made by their #1 record breaking single "God Complex go to the Corona Virus Relief Fund. The Grammy winning artists also encouraged their fans to post a picture of themselves with #CoronaRelief in order to raise awareness and in return, they will be sending instruments, headphones, posters, xinyls and more for their fans. Another artist who have not only talked but took action was Troye Sivan who has donated $500k to the Corornavirus Relief, $500k to The CDC Foundation, $500k to the Covenant House and another $500k to Feeding America making it a total of $2m donation. In his post he stated "I am forever grateful & happy to be privileged enough to be able to live from doing what i love, especially in stressful and confusing times like these [...] The last two organizations are a relief for those who don't have the same luxury of having a roof over their heads and a hot meal every day. stay safe! all the love." "Hurt Me" singer, Hilary Duff, also donated $2m to the Coronavius Relief Fund and posted on Connect to her 400k followers. Other than that, it was reported earlier this week that several artists have aligned to show support for the global community through their participating in the Oprah & CAL Tube arranged event "United World" which will be held in Texas this Wednesday. Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Katy Perry, Zendaya, Florence Welch, Shawn Menes, Father John Misty, Hilary Duff and Harry Styles have all been confirmed on Monday. Today, several new stars were confirmed. Among them: Maluma, Mariah Carey, and Shakira. Maluma's rep told us that his focus is to "transmit a powerful message of forgiveness and also make everyone notice that this is time to focus on love and hope". Other than her anticipated performance at World United, Del Rey stated today during an interview with Seth Meyers that she will be putting out something out soon that has to do with her contribution to the current COVID-19 crisis. "I do my best to [...] whatever way to spread values of unity, or to make a tangible difference. I don't wan tto say too much right now, but I am indeed doing some work on the side to get something together for that, yes. I'll be putting something out soon about that." Leave comments below!

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EXCLUSIVE Belinda To Sue Zendaya For Defamation Of Character Singer Belinda just slapped a lawsuit on the Grammy winning artist Zendaya, claiming that she attacked her character with false allegations in 2019. Zendaya revealed on Twitter an alleged screenshot from a conversation Belinda had with Zendaya on August 2019. The "Fuego" singer allegedly removed Zendaya from a song they were supposed to do together and was very hostile towards the singer in the messages, saying "run along now little girl" and "why are you even friends with him. With him for the money. What's your reason, prostitute?" in regards to her friendship with her ex, Maluma. Zendaya went on to explain her troubling relationship with Belinda, Belinda has been very rude to her since late 2018. "On the day of filming, Belinda very blatantly stole all of my stylists and booked them on the day I needed them. I couldn’t do costuming on my own, so the video was cancelled. " The "Boho" singer also revealed that Belinda admitted that she has married Maluma mostly due to his wealth. "Juan (Maluma) and I were just friends at the time. We had no romantic connection back then", she said, "What shocked me more than her one sided vendetta against me is her admitting to using Maluma for his funds. As a friend, I should have spoke up sooner. But he was happy with her." Belinda married Maluma in 2018 and gave birth to her first child named Ronaldo in 2019. The two announced their divorce on July 2019. That led to the talked-about controversy of Maluma's nudes leaked by Belinda herself and several celebrities calling her out for "Revenge Porn" on social media. Her apology letter and retirement from the music industry followed shortly after. Zendaya and Maluma started to date in late 2019 and are still together according to our sources. Belinda's lawyer stated in the leaked doc: "This series of tweets highly damaged the public perception and reputation of our client, establishing a longstanding notoriety that she has since held in the music industry." The trial is set to occur in the next following weeks! Leave comments below!

BABY SHARK doo doo doo doo doo doo We all remember the viral shark meme that garnered immense traction online on August 2019. The one who started the meme is Shakira. A jazz-pop columbian singer who has recently released the top 30 peaking single "Sacred Matter". The singer arrived to the 2020 Grammys red carpet showing off her baby bump like Belinda did at the 2018 VMAs. She arrived with actor Kit Harrington with whom she's in relationship with and although her look wasn't recieved well by critics who have her a 5.5 out of 10, she still managed to be one of the most talked about arrivals at the ceremony. The viral meme which hit social media showed the singer getting eaten by a shark with her neck breaking. Shortly after, several users photoshopped either their own faces or the faces of well-known celebrities on top of the singer's face. Stars like Zendaya, Brendon Urie, Florence Welch and Mariah Carey were quick to join the viral trend and post their own versions. The woman later brought the meme to life when she arrived to the VMAs red carpet carrying a tank with a tiny shark inside of it which caused quite a mixed reaction online with some claiming she is "desperate" and some found it "hilarious".

Zendaya and Maluma broke up?! After being officially announced as a couple in Summer 2019, could it be that the "BOHO" singer and the global superstar Maluma broke up? The two are currently working together at The Voice USA along with Brendon Urie & Lorde. However, at the 2020 Grammy Awards, the two arrived to the red carpet alone! A close friend to Maluma tells us today that their relationship has started to go downhill because Maluma realized they had "nothing in common". "He was just bored of her", he tells us, "He wanted someone that would excite him as much as Belinda did and that wasn't the case with Zendaya". Maluma was previously married to singer Belinda and both have a child together named Ronaldo. The two announced their divorce on July 2019 what led to the talked-about controversy of Maluma's nudes leaking by non-other by Belinda herself. Zendaya's fanbase, known as "Zisters" online, have expressed their doubt regarding their relationship weeks ago while feeding the rumors that Maluma is actually in a relationship with the "Hurt Me" singer, Hilary Duff, who has previously dated Shawn Mendes in 2019. However, Maluma's friend tells us that this is not true and Maluma is enjoying his time single. "I don't think there's anything going on there", he said, "I don't know her though". Maluma and Zendaya have yet to respond to the rumors of the split. Leave comments below!

LANA DEL REY SWEEPS GRAMMYs Lana Del Rey cleaned up at the 2020 Grammys, winning five total Grammy awards including the prestigious Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year. Lana has been one of the biggest winners for 3 years in a row. At the 2018 Grammy Awards, Lana won two Grammys including Record Of The Year for "Running From Love". In 2017, the superstar won four Grammys including Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year for "Midnight". This gives Lana a 17 times Grammy winner, making her the artist with the most Grammys in history. The "I Believe In Love" singer also closed this year's show with an emotional performance of her album track "Praying" taken off her now Grammy winning album. The album has not only been a tremendous success during the awards season but also commercially, being certified 2 times Diamond for selling over 20 million copies worldwide making it the best selling album of all time. The album rollout generated four number one hits, with three of them being certified Diamond. The worldwide tour crossed 700 million dollars in gross with over 1.9 million tickets sold making it the biggest tour of all time. The star also became the first and only woman to be honored more than once for the Woman Of The Year cover issue by Billboard Magazine. Lana remains being the most popular artist of all time with over 16 million followers on Connect and with an upcoming acting role on Marvel's "Black Widow" as well as a #1 soundtrack single that is still topping the charts and many more projects in the future- it seems like she will maintain her spot as the immortal queen of Olympus.

Stars Align Against COVID-19 Lorde, Katy Perry, Zendaya, Florence Welch, Shawn Menes, Father John Misty, Hilary Duff and Harry Styles are all confirmed to join Lana Del Rey and perform at World United next Wednesday. The stars aligned to show support for the global community in fighting this epidemic and helping in unifying and inspiring people around the world. Florence's rep told us today: "She [Florence] has expressed interest in offering her help and doing her part to fight this pandemic in any way she can, with this event being a great way of giving back". The singer-songwriters will all perform three songs during the special. It's confirmed that Frank Ocean has shown interest in participating but is unable to perform because of scheduling conflicts. However, he will take part in the event in another way. Oprah told us today that she is more than happy to have so many artists join the special curated by her and CAL Tube. "I was surprised by the amount of support we've been getting from artists, politicians and various public figures who showed interest in participating in this event in any way they can", she said, "I hope we manage to send a message of love and compassion to the people at home who will be watching so that they will know that we're all in this together". It's also confirmed that funds raised for the special by sponsors and supporters will go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. @Bleachella @Kuba @ryjapo @Mr. Mendes @Surrealism @Harry_CAL @hector

Lana Del Rey to perform at World United It has been announced that Oprah Winfrey is partnering with CAL Tube on the World United special which is set to air live on Wednesday, April 22 to the entire world. The special will include a lineup of musical guests and speeches by various world leaders. Funds raised for the special by sponsors and supporters will go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The first artist who was confirmed to be performing is none other than 17 times Grammy winner Lana Del Rey. The global superstar is known for her humanitarian work throughout her career. In 2018, the star gave a remarkable speech and performed at the United Nations General Assembly and has continuously promoted values and ideals like love, compassion and kindness through her art. In 2019, the star arranged one of the biggest sold-out festivals in history named as "Freedom Festival" in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach. A portion of the tickets sales were donated and distributed to various organizations, among them Rainforest Trust, TASK and more. The singer is set to perform three of her songs during the event. The producers of the special have confirmed the news today. "We are very happy to announce that Lana Del Rey will indeed perform at World United and has shown interest in supporting this important cause and highlight the power of the human spirit during these difficult times." @Harry_CAL