Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019E3

Wood to join what looked like
a full house at the Bowl on
Sunday, and here they dis-
cuss what they saw.

Wood:Kanye seemed very
deliberate in using the word
“opera” to present “Nebu-
chadnezzar.” Was it one?

Swed:You can call just
about anything an opera,
the Latin term for “works,”
although for most of us it
suggests some sort of dram-
atic work with music. Even
so, what Kanye West has
produced with its biblical
narration, choral singing
and stylized reenactment
suggests a passion play, if
one from the Old Testament
rather than the New.

Wood:Right, basically what
we saw was Kanye reading
Bible verses — and reading
them very dramatically — as
his choir delivered long,
moody vocal lines without a
huge amount of melodic
movement. Given the opera
designation, I expected
more singing from a lead
character or two. But that
didn’t really happen. Sheck
Wes, who played Nebu-
chadnezzar, growled an
awful lot. But the singing we
heard didn’t strike me as
especially “operatic,” what-
ever that word means. You?

Swed:Well, there is none of
that in “Einstein on the
Beach,” either, which is
basically repetitive instru-
mental music, some recita-
tion and movement, with a
surreal sense of narrative.
But this resembled maybe a
combination between an
Easter sunrise service at the
Bowl and the kind of thing
that used to be done at the
Pilgrimage Theatre, now the
Ford Theatres, across Ca-
huenga Boulevard. So it at
least fit the space histori-
cally. How much of this,
though, feels like West’s
work, especially given the
lack of rap?

Wood:There were connec-

tions. At one point I heard a

bit of his song “Wolves,” and

some of the choral arrange-

ments are definitely in line

with what he’s been doing in

his Sunday Service perform-

ances. But I’m not sure

these arrangements did

much to showcase the choir.

In Sunday Service, the

vocals are just incredible —

loud, precise, as athletically

nimble as they are emotion-

ally stirring. But this stuff

felt pretty static. Did the

singing impress you?

Swed:I found it hard to tell.

The amplification pretty

much wiped out the text

(some of which was, I think,

liturgical Latin). I agree with

the sensation of it being

static. I would have hoped

the gospel influence might

have led to more spontane-

ity, but that was likely the

result of how quickly the

project was put together.

But if the simplicity of the

choral writing seemed a

perfect background for

improvisation, at least the

chorus had an impressive

collective fervor. What they

were singing about, however,

was another matter. Could

you figure out anything

beyond the vague connec-

tion with the biblical narra-

tion?

Wood:Zilch. If this thing had

a story, it was pretty hard to

tell. And I agree that the

show seemed slapped to-

gether in a hurry. When I

arrived at the Bowl, I could

see stagehands still working

on some of the set pieces —

mere minutes until show-

time. At times, Kanye

seemed to be frustratedly

directing cast members who

didn’t appear to know where

they were going — almost a

“Waiting for Guffman” vibe.

Kanye is famous for not

finishing projects until the

last possible minute (when

he doesn’t blow deadlines

altogether). I wonder if

that’s a tradition in opera.

Swed:Typically, a new opera

is a multiyear project, so the

very notion of this pop-up

one, which seems to have

been in the works for a cou-

ple of weeks at most, is ex-

traordinary. But if you go

back to the 18th and 19th

centuries, operas were popu-

lar entertainment put on

with the regularity and

immediacy that television

shows are today. Vivaldi, for

instance, wrote around 100

operas, along with thou-

sands of instrumental

pieces. Working fast for

composers meant anything

goes, and cannibalizing their

own work and that of others

was common. You can only

imagine what they were like

theatrically.

This then was probably

closer to the old days, at

least on this scale. And I

must say the sense of not

knowing what to expect —

there was no program, no

libretto, West didn’t even use

the video screens — added a

kind of immediacy that you

will never find in a modern

opera house. Do you think

this is what the crowd ex-

pected?

Wood:Good question. I

think Kanye’s fans have

come to expect the unex-

pected from him, though I

suspect people were prob-

ably hoping for something

more personal — something

that helped explain his

enthusiastic embrace of

Christianity. (I certainly was

hoping for that.) But maybe

he liked the idea of stepping

outside the traditional

performer role to fully be-

come a composer.

He actually maintains a

fairly minimal presence in

Sunday Service; he lets the

choir and his musicians take

the spotlight. So I can see

this as a natural evolution of

that. In addition to religion,

of course, Kanye has been

talking about politics lately.

Does the Nebuchadnezzar

figure have any kind of

political resonance else-

where in opera or classical

music?

Swed:What this Nebu-

chadnezzar lacked was a

strong or original point of

view other than mere de-

scription. Vanessa Beecroft’s

direction was often the

processional, though includ-

ing lovely, moving of bodies.

But there is so much more.

Verdi’s fanciful Nebu-

chadnezzar opera,

“Nabucco,” has a strong

political message and helped

unite Italy. In March, I hap-

pened to see a new produc-

tion in Hamburg by the

controversial Russian direc-

tor Kirill Serebrennikov, who

made the Babylonian king a

Trump-like figure. The night

before in Berlin, I saw Jörg

Widmann’s recent opera

“Babylon,” full of sex, vi-

olence and excess, compari-

ng ancient times with our

own.

Here we had the ritual of

the Burning Fiery Furnace

(a tall, gold-clad figure

wheeled out as if in a school

play), the king’s madness

and all the rest without any

interpretation. In the end, it

is West’s religiosity, meant to

be inspirational on its own

without need for a larger

context, that makes this

“Nebuchadnezzar” seem to

intentionally avoid becom-

ing “operatic” and happily

content to, as a passion play

does, plainly spell out a

parable. Ultimately, like you,

what I missed was a better

sense of West’s personality.

His reading had a certain

flair. A lot more of that would

have helped.

Wood:The problem for

Kanye, of course, is that

when he wants to be, he’s a

great rapper — by turns

funny, profane, sentimental

and energizing. But this

didn’t allow much of his gift

to come through. Perhaps

he’ll stick with opera and put

more of himself in the next

one. After all, who’s more

operatic than a pop star?

Kanye West goes Old Testament at Bowl

[West, from E1]

“NEBUCHADNEZZAR,”Kanye West’s opera directed by Vanessa Beecroft, started late but was brief.

Mark SwedLos Angeles Times

Taylor Swift won an acri-
monious battle to perform
her old songs live at the
American Music Awards. It
may be a sign she’s winning
the PR war over her catalog
as well.
On Sunday night, Swift
was honored as the AMA’s
artist of the decade, where
artists are nominated for
streaming, social media and
touring stats and prizes are
voted on by fans. But many
fans tuning in did so to see
the latest twist in the heated
battle between Swift and the
amalgam of music and pri-
vate equity interests that
commandeered her back
catalog. That battle has pit-
ted Swift against Scott
Borchetta, the man who
founded her former record
label Big Machine, and his
new partner Scooter Braun,
the mega-manager behind
Kanye West, Justin Bieber,
Ariana Grande and others.
Braun, with funding from
the private equity firm the
Carlyle Group, bought Big
Machine Label Group and
most of Swift’s master re-
cordings, prior to her switch-
ing labels and singing with
Republic Records.
“The fact is that the last
year of my life had the most
amazing times and the hard-
est things I’ve gone through,
a lot of things that haven’t
been public,” Swift said as
she accepted the award for
artist of the year, her second
speech of the night. “I
wanted to thank you for be-
ing the thing that’s been con-
stant in life. This industry is
really weird.
“For people who do what
we do, you feel like your stock
is either up or down, people
like you or don’t,” she contin-
ued. “The people who hang
in there for you are the ones
who you’ll never forget. Fans
who have hung in there for 15
years of me doing this.
“It’s been a lot of really
complicated ...” she added,
trailing off at the confusion
over what to say about a situ-
ation in the front of all her
fans’ minds today. Swift’s
fight to control her back cat-
alog is byzantine, to say the

least. But a threat from Swift

to re-record her old albums

to undercut Braun seems to

have sufficiently alarmed

Braun as to raise the specter

of forbidding her from

playing her old hits on the

telecast.

Swift wrote on Tumblr

that the sale of Big Machine

left her longtime foes in the

position of “controlling a

woman who didn’t want to

be associated with them. In

perpetuity.”

Braun denied the threat,

but Swift’s pained public

posts about the ordeal

earned support from a huge

array of stars and politicians

such as Elizabeth Warren

and Alexandria Ocasio-

Cortez, who used the occa-

sion to attack private equity

firms like the Carlyle Group.

Swift’s pleas sent fans on a

campaign to free her from

any impositions from Braun

and his group. (Braun has

since said that he’d been har-

assed and threatened with

doxing.)

Swift’s allusions to the

matter were one of a few

punches up at power brokers

from female artists at the

AMAs. Billie Eilish wore a

flame-bedecked shirt stat-

ing “No Music on a Dead

Planet,” an affirmation of the

climate change activism

she’s pursuing on her cur-

rent arena tour. Halsey

chided awards shows — per-

haps referring to the Gram-

mys, which snubbed her this

year — saying, “These tro-

phies were supposed to be

some kind of validation for

the soul-crushing and heart-

ache-inducing work put into

writing a song and bringing

it to life. And to be honest

with you, I really believed

that fairy tale.

“But the truth is I am old-

er now and I’m also an artist

and apparently I’m doing

OK. But most of these

awards really aren’t what

they seem at all,” she said.

Similarly, Kesha intro-

duced her church-themed

performance of “Raising

Hell” with New Orleans

bounce legend Big Freedia

by saying “Welcome to our

Sunday Service,” an unmis-

takable ding toward Kanye

West’s similarly titled amal-

gam of heartfelt gospel mu-

sic and right-wing televan-

gelism. Kesha, like Swift,

also played a song co-owned

by a man she loathes: “Tik

Tok,” her breakout single,

was produced and released

by Dr. Luke, the producer

she has accused of sexually

assaulting her (he denies the

claims, which have played

out in court for years).

Before receiving her art-

ist of the decade honor, Swift

was introduced by Carole

King, who said she “is one of

the only modern pop artists

whose name appears as the

sole songwriter in her song

credits. Her lyrics resonate

across the generations. Her

songs touch everyone, her

impact around the world is

extraordinary.” And, in per-

haps a subtle allusion to her

current predicament, King

added that “the best is yet to

come.”

Swift’s medley was in-

deed a walk through her ca-

reer growing up alongside

her fans, but to hear those

songs in this context, it al-

most seemed as though

she’d been preparing for in-

dustry combat her whole life.

She started with “The Man,”

from her new album “Lover,”

and its lyrics about mistreat-

ment and being undermined

by men were clear as a bell:

“I’m so sick of running as fast

as I can / wondering if I’d get

there quicker if I was a man.”

She then walked through

the decade of hits — “Love

Story,” “I Knew You Were

Trouble,” “Blank Space” —

which had Billie Eilish sing-

ing every word in the aisle,

and ballet stars Misty Cope-

land and Craig Hall dancing

alongside her onstage. But

she saved particular relish

for “Shake It Off,” in which

she castigated the “liars and

dirty cheats of the world”

with an unmistakably acidic

flourish. The AMA crowd

was hers, and they seemed to

know to whom those words

were addressed.

She didn’t overtly ad-

dress the dispute in her first

acceptance speech of the

night, instead taking the oc-

casion to tell King, “When I

fell in love with music, I real-

ized how marvelous it was

that an artist could tran-

scend so many changes and

phases in people’s lives. You

taught me that was a pos-

sibility.

“All any of us want is to

create something that will

last,” she added. “All that

matters to me is the memo-

ries I’ve had with you guys

over the years.”

Swift pointedly plays her older hits

The singer, battling

over her back catalog,

is named artist of the

decade at American

Music Awards.

By August Brown

TAYLOR SWIFT, flanked by Camila Cabello, left, and Halsey at the American Music Awards, where she was named artist of the decade.

Chris PizzelloAP