Week 4 has come and gone and so has what Cheryl Frasier from Miss Congeniality considers to be the perfect date: “April 25, because it’s not too hot, not too cold — all you need is a light jacket.” I’m sure most people’s days have been full of midterms, while the rest of the world has yet to solve its 99 (and then some) problems.
So, ICYMI (or, in case you missed it, for those of you who don’t do acronyms) the refugee crisis is still hot and heavy in and around the European Union. Masses of people from the Middle East and North Africa have been leaving their countries as a result of war and poverty for over a year now, and unfortunately, conditions for these migrants have not improved. To get to Europe (in hopes of a better life) many individuals and families pay smugglers to get them across water and land, but saying these smugglers are sketchy is a complete understatement.
On April 20, it was reported by the UN Refugee Agency that a ship that was en route from Libya to Italy last week capsized and as many as 500 people may have died. Sound familiar? The last time a tragedy of this capacity took place was almost a year ago exactly when more than 800 people died from a shipwreck, also in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy.
This makes me want to ask the UN so many questions. How are these human smugglers in the Mediterranean still getting away with their horrifying ways? Why did the EU make such a fuss last month about its “turn-around-asylum-seekers” deal with Turkey if it’s not actually helping the crisis? And overall, why haven’t organizations like the UN taken a more aggressive approach to the matter because clearly, the EU has not fixed much?
Who knows — it could’ve been a tidal wave that caused the capsizing to occur. I’m telling you, nothing positive seems to ever be associated with the word “tidal,” since it’s also the cause of the recent deprivation I’ve been feeling in regard to streaming songs by Beyoncé.
The two-year-old music streaming service, TIDAL, is currently owned by Bey’s hubby: Jay-to-the-Z. Mr. Knowles wanted a place for people to stream his music, along with other fellow artists’ work, on a platform independent from groups like Apple and Spotify. The result: this unnecessary site in which people like Yoncé and Kanye West hide their music from the rest of the world (#smh).
But, drama. There have been rumors circulating about a tiff between Beyoncé and Jay Z. So what does Blue Ivy’s mom do? Probably the most heinous act that she could have ever possibly done: Bey released her newest album, Lemonade, on iTunes and Amazon for purchase last weekend.
The surprise album dropped on April 23 after an HBO hour-long event — yes, another one — that USA Today described as a “docu-style special.” In other words, Queen B and HBO casually made a weekend out of the singer’s sixth solo album premier with this mini-movie and bumped programs like the season-six premiere of Game of Thrones and Jurassic World up an hour on Sunday for a rerun of Lemonade.
Not a lot of honey from her Beyhive was added to Lemonade. Instead, a lot of people got a bitter taste in their mouths with theories that all the heartbreak shown throughout the visual album is a jab at Jay Z and his rumored infidelity. Like most of Beyoncé’s recent work, Lemonade is a cryptic project that shouldn’t be taken too drastically, imo.
While Beyoncé continues her musical legacy, one artist saw his end on April 21. Prince Rogers Nelson, who was best known as Prince, passed away at the age of 57 from an unknown cause. According to CNN, “he was found dead inside an elevator at his Paisley Park Studios” in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Many are remembering his incredible career through creative tributary pieces, and I think one of my favorites that has popped up is Bruce Springsteen’s cover of “Purple Rain” that he performed on April 23 at the Barclays Center.
MTV finally playing music videos again was also pretty great, besides the fact that it took Prince’s death to spark the movement. Now I’m almost afraid to ask, but what needs to happen for the network to stop with its scripted shows?