Arts

Arts

WEEKENDER: Emerging Boston-based artist Analise releases new single

By Shannon Murphy | March 7

Analise Marin, local sophomore songwriting student at the Berklee College of Music and emerging singer-songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Analise, released her newest single “All Alone Again” on Feb. 24. The song, which is now available on streaming platforms, stands out for its emotional lucidity and mesmerizing production as it captures the cyclical nature of love, yearning and loneliness.

---

Arts

‘Dune: Part Two’ lives up to expectations

By Natalie Bricker | March 7

“Dune: Part Two” has it all: There’s romance; there’s violence; there are undertones of religion as a great force of power; there are huge CGI worms; there’s Zendaya — truly, what more could you ask for in a film?

---

Arts

Desert chic: The iconic fashion looks of the ‘Dune: Part Two’ press tour

By Isabella Teubal | March 7

Warner Bros.’ sci-fi success “Dune: Part Two” (2024) was finally released this past week on March 1. The movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is the sequel to “Dune: Part One” (2021), based on the 1965 epic novel by American author Frank Herbert. Due to its incredible cast, featuring superstars Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler, it is no wonder that the film has been a box office success, grossing $81.5 million domestically in its opening weekend.

---

Columns

For the Culture: Hip-hop evolves through experimentation

By Paul Osmond | March 7

Hip-hop is dying. Well, ‘traditional’ or ‘real’ hip-hop — at least, to many hip-hop critics, media outlets and fans — is dying. Yet, Killer Mike won the 2024 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song over artists like Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, pioneers of melodic, modern trap rap.

---

Arts

‘Raymonda’ premieres at the Boston Ballet

By Sarah Firth | March 6

The Boston Ballet premiered Mikko Nissenen’s reimagined one-act version of “Raymonda” as part of their Winter Experience this February. “Raymonda” stands alongside “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” as one of the great classical ballets. It originally premiered in 1898 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The ballet is known for its Hungarian character dancing and Alexander Glazunov’s unique, almost modern, score. Nissenen, the artistic director of the Boston Ballet, has consolidated the three-act ballet into a shorter one-act production.

---

Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Navigating Neighborhood Produce

By Elizabeth Foster | March 6

Ball Square’s Neighborhood Produce is Tufts’ best-kept secret. A block away from 574 Boston Ave., Neighborhood Produce somehow has exactly what you need for a week of meals. To allow you to repeat my grocery shopping process for the week, I’ve documented my approach.

---

---

Arts

‘Stop Making Sense’ hasn’t lost its luster

By Ethan Essner | March 5

David Byrne walking to the tip of a stage with a six-string and fashioning a world of the utmost rhythm and beauty is one of the most perfect sights. His band, Talking Heads, steadily crafted one of the most organically listenable catalogs in American music history.

---

Columns

Tok the Talk: The emergence of tradwives

By Annika Pillai | March 5

“I chose the trad lifestyle because I believe that women have drifted far from our roots,” Estee Williams, a Tiktok creator and self-described “tradwife,” recently stated. Taken from the name “traditional wives,” “tradwives” are the latest Western aesthetic involving a subculture of women who believe in advocating for ‘traditional values.’

---

Columns

Brown and (Usually) Blue: The power of ‘Lagaan’

By Ishaan Rajiv Rajabali | March 5

Since the institution of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, only three Indian movies have ever received nominations. The first, “Mother India” (1957), is a classic, interweaving political commentary with a narrative of a determined farmer. The film follows a rural woman named Radha and her struggle to nurture her family, village and land. The piece uses her resilience as a marked metaphor for an Indian nation in the aftermath of independence. 

---

Arts

2024 Oscars predictions: Who will win in all 23 categories

By Nate Hall | March 4

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, the pressure is on to find out who will take home the gold this year. Will box office juggernauts “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” emerge victorious, or are we underestimating critical favorites like “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers” and “Killers of the Flower Moon?” Read on to see the Daily’s predictions in all 23 categories ahead of the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.

---

Theater

Tufts theatre puts a joyful spin on ‘Twelfth Night’

By Odessa Gaines | March 4

This weekend, Tufts’ Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies opened their spring production of “Twelfth Night.” The 2018 musical adaptation of the Shakespearean classic, with music by Shaina Taub, is a tale of love, mistaken identity and grief.

---

Arts

Public Cinemy No. 1: The problem with ‘Poor Things’

By Sacha Waters | March 4

Amidst a backdrop of gothic production design, fisheye lenses and vibrant color grades, Director Yorgos Lanthimos boldly poses the question: What if Frankenstein’s monster was a manic pixie dream girl?

---

Arts

Tufts musical theater prepares for the opening of ‘Twelfth Night’

By Jennifer May | March 1

Tufts Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies’ production of “Twelfth Night” opens Friday in Balch Arena Theater. The production is not your typical Shakespeare, though. “Twelfth Night” is a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s original romantic comedy and ...

---

Columns

Harmonies in the Limelight: The waltz, the tragedy and the craze of ‘Annette’

By Ethan Essner | March 1

There’s a satisfying exhale one makes when they experience something that differs from the artistically cliché. With musical cinema, the accepted, and rather trite, notion of what such a film should look like has developed and transformed immensely in the 21st century. Nowadays, there is an infinite ...

---

Arts

WEEKENDER: Boston Science Fiction Film Festival returns to Davis Square

By Julieta Grané | February 29

One year away from its 50th anniversary, the longest-running genre fest in the U.S. put on a display of aliens, artistry and amusement. The 49th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, which ran from Feb. 14–25 at the Somerville Theater, featured a hybrid of in-person and online events, including screenings, panels and parties.

---

Columns

The Bookmark: ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ by Gabrielle Zevin

By Natalie Bricker | February 29

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” (2022). Welcome back to “The Bookmark,” your go-to column for book reviews! Last week, I featured the famous science-fiction masterpiece “Dune” (1965). This week, we’ll be returning to contemporary ...

---

Columns

For the Culture: Why do some rappers promote violence?

By Paul Osmond | February 29

As Tufts’ artist-in-residence, professor of the practice and activist Dee-1 has poignantly noted, the promotion of violence in hip-hop is overwhelmingly common. According to Billboard, at the end of 2023, at least four of the five top rap artists incorporated violent lyrics in their discography. Recently ...

---

Arts

‘Becoming a Man’ spotlights the trans experience at the ART

By Nate Hall and Odessa Gaines | February 28

“Becoming a Man,” now playing in its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, is a deeply personal coming-out story written by P. Carl, based on his 2020 memoir of the same name. Chronicling Carl’s experience embracing his identity as a transgender man, “Becoming a Man” asks the question: “When we change, can the people we love come with us?” The play’s non-linear narrative gives audiences a glimpse into Carl’s life both pre- and post-transition, as he struggles to preserve his relationship with his wife, Lynette, and find his place in the world.

---

Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Substitution secrets

By Elizabeth Foster | February 28

My journey with substitutions began when I was a senior in high school. I was planning to visit one of my dearest friends in college and decided to bring her a batch of dairy-free chocolate chip cookies, made with coconut oil. Then one of my closest friends in college didn’t eat eggs, so the chocolate chip cookie recipe evolved to include a flax egg.

---

Arts

A deep dive into Jersey club music

By Afua Siaw | February 27

It’s Friday night, and you find yourself at a party in a dimly lit basement with countless bodies pressed together. The temperature rises so much that it becomes unbearable to stay in the room until you hear the word “DAMNNNNNNN” start to play over the speakers. Everyone starts to jump around and push each other as the Lil Uzi Vert song “Just Wanna Rock” continues to echo. One or two people emerge from the crowd and start dancing in the circle, incorporating the iconic “buh buh buh” into their moves as the whole room cheers. Vert’s song is an example of Jersey club music, a fast-growing genre that combines EDM and hip-hop. Jersey club remixes have taken social media by storm, particularly on TikTok, where they have become a viral sensation.

---