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Henry Moodie releases new single “beat up car”
The track serves as follow-up to the chart-topping hit “drunk text,” which gained prominent traction in the Philippines thanks to viral covers by Paolo of Ben&Ben and Paolo Sandejas
Future global pop superstar Henry Moodie has released his incredible new single, ‘beat up car’ via Robots & Humans (UK), Columbia Records (US) and Sony Music Entertainment. The single is accompanied by a music video.
The release of the track follows the regional success of his previous hit “drunk text,” which peaked at No. 1 on streaming platforms in Malaysia and Indonesia, and charted across Southeast Asia. The aforementioned song also gained traction and virality in the region, with notable covers from NCT (popular K-Pop boy group) member Chenle, Paolo of Ben&Ben, and Paolo Sandejas.
On Henry’s new single “beat up car”, the British pop sensation delivers yet another epic ballad; his exquisite vocals flourish as the crux of the new single, accompanied by sublime production that features exquisite guitars alongside an invigorating beat. It is beautiful and charming in equal measures, holding a deep relatability that fans and news listeners will no doubt resonate with. The single is accompanied by a beautiful video directed by Ned Botwood, and together they demonstrate once again why Henry Moodie is seen as one of the most exciting new UK pop stars on the scene today.
Speaking about ‘beat up car’, Henry said, “beat up car is a song fantasizing about running away with someone who makes life feel less scary. When I’m feeling down, I have a couple people I know I can call to remind me of all the beautiful parts of life – love and friendship. I wanted this song to feel uplifting and cinematic – just like how it feels to be with a soulmate!”
At just 19-years-old, Henry Moodie already achieved more than 250 million streams worldwide, landed in the Top 10 most viewed UK artists on TikTok in 2022 and has been named amongst Amazon Music’s Artists To Watch in 2023. Following the completion of a songwriting diploma at music school BIMM, Henry found his voice as a solo musician and songwriter, oozing a level of emotional vulnerability, and sweeping, timeless lyrics.
Henry released his debut EP, ‘in all of my lonely nights’, in the winter of 2023. With a combined 250m streams across tracks including self-penned and produced ‘you were there for me’, global hit ‘drunk text’ and the heartfelt ‘pick up the phone’, a track which received 350k streams in it’s first day alone. With his first headline UK and European tour selling out in days, support tours with Mimi Webb & Lauren Spencer-Smith under his belt, Henry has currently been embarking on his biggest solo tour to date with over 15,000 tickets sold in UK, Europe & USA plus festivals in Asia during the summer.
‘beat up car’ Single Artwork – DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES HERE
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FOLLOW HENRY MOODIE ON SOCIALS
INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE
Henry Moodie’s ‘beat up car’ is out now on all digital music platforms worldwide via Robots & Humans (UK), Columbia Records (US) and Sony Music Entertainment.
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About Sony Music Entertainment
At Sony Music Entertainment, we honor the creative journey. Our creators shape movements, culture, communities, even history. And we’ve played a pioneering role in music history, from establishing the first-ever music label to inventing the flat disc record. We’ve nurtured some of music’s most iconic artists and produced some of the most influential recordings of all time. Today, we work in more than 100 countries, supporting a diverse and distinctive roster of talented creators at every level and on every stage. Situated at the intersection of music, entertainment, and technology, we bring imagination and expertise to emerging products and platforms, embrace new business models, and employ breakthrough tools—all to support the creative community’s experimentation, risk-taking, and growth. And we form deep, trusted, cause-based partnerships to uplift and empower communities around the world. Sony Music Entertainment is part of the global Sony family. Learn more about our creators and labels here.
Finding Nellie: Olongapo mystery solved by father-daughter team
Introduction
On November 6, 2021, Dr. Leo De Castro —a Philosophy professor at the University of the Philippines—received four birthday cakes from an old grade school friend. They both studied at Nellie E. Brown Elementary School (NEBES), a public school in Olongapo City.
Connected to Subic Bay and facing the West Philippine Sea, Olongapo is known for being part of a US Naval Base from 1901 to 1959. Placenames in Olongapo tell stories about this time, as streets, schools, and establishments carry foreign names – most of which can easily be traced to navy officials who were previously stationed there, local government officials, and even American presidents.
But who was Nellie E. Brown?
This is the question that Leo’s daughter, Ellie, kept asking. Her Dada, his brothers, and the people they grew up with apparently didn’t know.
There are many stories about who Nellie could have been: a teacher, a volunteer, or maybe even a business owner. But no one knows for certain as official documents about the school’s first days are missing. The official history of NEBES, as documented by the Department of Education, mentions that Nellie was a Peace Corps volunteer who helped build the school. However, the timing doesn’t match: the Peace Corps started only in 1961, while the school was founded in 1953.
Why was a school named after her? And why doesn’t anyone seem to know?
Finding Nellie
What Ellie thought would be a quick Google search turned out to be an adventure that has lasted more than two years.
Finding Nellie is a project that has made a team of National Geographic explorers (archaeologists, educators, and storytellers) scour through offline and online archives in the Philippines and abroad; inquire with libraries, cemeteries, historians, and even active and retired U.S. military personnel; get in touch with local politicians (even a Senator!); and message anyone who might remotely be related to a Nellie Brown on social media, via telephone, and even by knocking on their doors. On Instagram, the team shares every step of this journey through its colorful and interactive Field Notes.
With the help of the National Geographic Society, Finding Nellie has allowed Ellie and her teammates to connect and reconnect with friends and family; foster an appreciation for community roots; and bring world history lessons a little closer to home – especially to the current students of Nellie E. Brown.
Two years and a few months later, the team is ready to announce: that Nellie has been found.
On April 11, 2024, Finding Nellie, led by Ellie De Castro, will announce the official identity of Nellie E. Brown. The event will be held at the grounds of Nellie E. Brown Elementary School, from 7:00-9:30 a.m., in front of the school’s current students, faculty, and the City of Olongapo’s active community participants. It will be followed by an interactive exhibit that showcases the team’s journey of #FindingNellie.
For more details, visit the project’s online spaces:
Instagram: @finding.nellie
TikTok: @finding.nellie
Website: https://www.elliedecastro.com/finding-nellie
Team Members’ Biographies
Ellie De Castro
Ellie is a Filipina archaeologist whose work focuses on finding avenues to connect heritage and youth. She led the Handi Project from 2015-2020, where she organized field trips to bring students from the Ifugao indigenous group to their world-renowned heritage sites, which they previously didn’t have access to. For the Dewil Valley Museum in El Nido, Palawan, she produced educational materials, artwork, and activities for the youth of the valley to engage them with the archaeological sites in their neighborhood. These projects focused on creating opportunities to connect with heritage resources in communities. Ellie seeks to enable participants of her projects to appreciate their homes in a new light and see the wonders of the world in their immediate surroundings.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Basic Medical Sciences degree from the University of the Philippines-Manila and a Master of Science degree in Archaeology from the University of the Philippines-Diliman
Peg Keiner
Peg is an educator in the USA with 17 years of experience, including 4 years as an elementary technology coach and 8 years leading an inquiry-based International Baccalaureate school as the Director of Innovation. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Earth Education Expert, a 2018 National Geographic Certified Educator, and United Nations Association-Chicago Global Goal Ambassador. As a 2017 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, she created immersive 360 content to transport students to Antarctica through inquiry science lessons. As a 2019 Nat Geo Education Fellow, she led the development of a week-long student workshop for GeoChallenge Participants and created the #31daysofcitizenscience video series to amplify the use of citizen science tools.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Design from Northern Illinois University.
Rachel Hansen
Rachel is an educator in the USA with 13 years of teaching experience, including 4 years of co-teaching experience with an English teacher, and 2 years spent working on an interdisciplinary team in a project-based program. She has much experience using participatory design and inquiry-based learning in her classroom. In 2021, Rachel was awarded the AP Human Geography Distinguished Teaching Award from the National Council for Geographic Education.
Rachel has endorsements in American History, World History, US Government, and Geography, with a B.A. from The University of Iowa in History. She is finishing her M.A. in Geography at the University of Northern Iowa, where her research focuses on tracking student learning progressions as they engage in map-making to tell stories of their communities.
Beyoncé releases new album, COWBOY CARTER
The eighth studio album, from the world’s most innovative artist, arrives after a monumental two-song release as a no-holds-barred, multi-genre nod to Americana country culture
Beyoncé’s eighth studio album, COWBOY CARTER is taking the world by storm with its top-notch songwriting and production, as well as incredible commercial success. The critically acclaimed record is expected to land at No. 1 on several countries for the tracking week, particularly in major markets worldwide.
The album arrives following the successful release of two lead singles, “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES.”
“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” landed across nine different genres on US music charts including Pop, Hot AC, Country, Rhythmic, Urban, and R&B, and making history with Beyoncé becoming the first Black female artist to reach No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 1 on the Hot 100 Chart with a Country song. It also spent four weeks at the top of the UK music charts.
COWBOY CARTER, executive produced by Beyoncé, is about genres, all of them, while deeply rooted in Country. This is the work of an artist who thrives in her freedom to grow, expand, and create limitlessly. It makes no apologies, and seeks no permission in elevating, amplifying, and redefining the sounds of music, while dismantling accepted false norms about Americana culture. It pays homage to the past, honoring musical pioneers in Country, Rock, Classical, and Opera.
The album is a cornucopia of sounds that Beyoncé loves, and grew up listening to, between visits and eventually performances at the Houston Rodeo – Country, original Rhythm & Blues, Blues, Zydeco, and Black Folk. The album wraps itself in pure instrumentation in a celebratory authentic gumbo of sounds using among others, the accordion, harmonica, washboard, acoustic guitar, bass ukulele, pedal steel guitar, a Vibra-Slap, the mandolin, fiddle, Hammond B3 organ, tack piano, and the banjo. There’s also plenty of handclaps, horseshoe steps, boot stomps on hardwood floors and yes, those are Beyoncé’s nails as percussion.
“The joy of creating music is that there are no rules,” says Beyoncé. “The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.”
And the inspiration further takes into account Southern and Western culture beyond music, the Rodeo, Western films, and the stories of the original cowboys of the West. It was at the Rodeo where she first saw diversity and camaraderie among people who love Country music and an Americana lifestyle, steeped in community, culinary offerings, grills, and Western gear. And it was for everyone. Among the crowds were Black, Hispanic and Native American Cowboys, who made their valuable, authentic allowances to the culture. Their stories are synonymous with American history.
The music is wrapped around an outpouring of passionate, bold storytelling that captivates the listener with Beyoncé’s familiar, powerful voice at the center. Her vocals shine a blinding light on a narrative steeped in truth-telling, revealing hidden histories, and reveling in all the magic you seek when you take an intentional journey back to your roots. Beyoncé is a student of history, and she continues the American music masterclass that started with act i RENAISSANCE in 2022, that was a deep dive into dance music and its creators, and the celebration of those who lived in joy despite being made to feel like outliers.
On COWBOY CARTER the work of an artist who created on her own terms, in the absence of rules, persists boldly. The songs caress, cradle, and encourage the listener’s curiosity through 27 gifts of revolutionary surprises, erasing the limitations placed on genre-based music. As a producer, Beyoncé explores and experiments with chord and key changes effortlessly mixing genres, bending, and blending the unexpected to break down every wall of musical confinement. It is a rare body of work that could so seamlessly hosts remakes of classics like “BLACKBIIRD” by The Beatles and “JOLENE” by Dolly Parton with sonically diverse creations like “SWEET HONEY BUCKIN,” “RIIVER DANCE” and “II MOST WANTED.”
“My process is that I typically have to experiment,” Beyoncé says. “I enjoy being open to have the freedom to get all aspects of things I love out and so I worked on many songs. I recorded probably 100 songs. Once that is done, I am able to put the puzzle together and realize the consistencies and the common themes, and then create a solid body of work.”
The album is an experiment indeed. Each song is its own version of a reimagined Western film. She took inspiration from films like “Five Fingers For Marseilles,” “Urban Cowboy,” “The Hateful Eight, “Space Cowboys,” “The Harder They Fall” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” often having the films playing on a screen during the recording process. Some aspects of the percussion were inspired by the ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ soundtrack, where it was more Bluegrass. This body of work undulates from singing cowboy and Blaxploitation to Spaghetti westerns and fantasy with Beyoncé weaving between personal experiences, honoring Black history, to exaggerated character building. The limited-edition vinyl depicts a microphone in the shape of a gun ala Thelma and Louise running from the law, but the gun is invisible, hyper exaggerated reality.
The character, Cowboy Carter was birth from these experiences and inspired by the original Black cowboys of the American West. The word cowboy itself was used in a derogatory way to describe the former slaves as “boys,” who were the most skilled and had the hardest jobs of handling horses and cattle, alike. In destroying the negative connotation, what remains is the strength and resiliency of these men who were the true definition of Western fortitude.
While RENAISSANCE was a stated rebirth after the Pandemic, COWBOY CARTER is a declarative frequency and academic shift, as the world prepares to shift again, that redefines and rebuilds what is Country and Americana, and who gets to be included. The album opens with “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” a hymn-like alarm that incinerates old ideas about art and the people who create it.
Beyoncé ensconced herself with a stellar group of collaborators, including The-Dream, Pharrell, NO I.D., Raphael Saadiq, Ryan Tedder, Ryan Beatty, Swizz Beatz, Khirye Tyler, Derek Dixie, Ink, Nova Wav, Mamii, Cam, Tyler Johnson, Dave Hamelin, and Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter to find the secret gems in each song. The process, sometimes years in the making, often meant combining pieces of different recordings, changing the instrumentation here, adding a snare there, to land at the perfect spot in the right time.
“This album took over five years,” she says. “It’s been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put COWBOY CARTER out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God’s timing.”
And the musical alliance here includes contributions from an impressive list of artists as vocalists, musicians, and orators, including Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Mylie Cyrus, Post Malone, Jon Batiste, Rhiannon Giddens, Nile Rodgers, Robert Randolph, Gary Clark, Jr., Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell and Tiera Kennedy.
COWBOY CARTER is the musical concoction you did not expect from the world’s most innovative artist and producer, who has made it the norm to push the boundaries in delivering art that challenges the senses. It’s about culture, legacy, and a critical addition to the American songbook from the most important and creative talent in a Century.
“I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects,” Beyoncé says, “but it’s the best music I’ve ever made.”
Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER is available now via Parkwood Entertainment, Columbia Records and Sony Music Entertainment.
COWBOY CARTER TRACK LIST:
1. AMERIICAN REQUIEM
2. BLACKBIIRD
3. 16 CARRIAGES
4. PROTECTOR
5. MY ROSE
6. SMOKE HOUR ★ WILLIE NELSON
7. TEXAS HOLD ‘EM
8. BODYGUARD
9. DOLLY P
10. JOLENE
11. DAUGHTER
12. SPAGHETTII
13. ALLIIGATOR TEARS
14. SMOKE HOUR II
15. JUST FOR FUN
16. II MOST WANTED
17. LEVII’S JEANS
18. FLAMENCO
19. The LINDA MARTELL SHOW
20. YA YA
21. OH LOUISIANA
22. DESERT EAGLE
23. RIIVER DANCE
24. II HANDS II HEAVEN
25. TYRANT
26. SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’
27. AMEN