Ishaan Rahman:
Sacha Baron Cohen makes a return in
Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, a sequel to his 2006 mockumentary hit. Cohen plays a filmmaker from Kazakhstan, Borat, who is sent to America to improve relations with President Donald Trump. This time, he’s joined by his fifteen-year-old daughter, played by Maria Bakalova with innocence and farce. Bakalova’s character has been raised in Kazakhstan and preconditioned to believe every chauvinist female stereotype.
The film’s over-the-top satirical comedy brings countless laugh-out-load moments, each ranging from light-hearted to borderline disturbing. Though unlike its predecessor, the film is very focused and timely, particularly on US politics and the November elections.
Natalia Vasnier: Buy the Mood (Deluxe Edition) by Tora
The Australian group Tora, composed of four members, offers a unique electric pop album. The remake of the 2019 album
Can’t Buy the Mood, it is composed of 21 songs, all written, produced and mixed largely by the band themselves.
This Deluxe Edition is in a more dynamic and collaborative than the 2019 album. The main songs have been remixed in collaboration with other independent artists, such as Two Another, allowing for a merge between Tora’s singular indie electro-pop style with other artists from the same genre.
Each song is constructed with the same musical elements: the calming voice of the main singer and electric instrumentalisation, giving life to a very soulful but at the same time a very modern style of electric pop.
Roar writer Elena Veris Reynolds discusses hyperpop and shares five essential listens of the genre.
What is ‘hyperpop’? The term is incredibly disputed, considering its short and relatively underground history so far. Described as “a genre tag for genre-less music” by Vice, the label has come to mean any alternative, experimental and primarily electronic pop music. Pioneers of experimental pop works like the PC music collective, producer SOPHIE and electronic duo 100 gecs have been major influences and pioneers of this kind of music, but this year the genre has really taken off and developed a large group of diverse artists.