DIE WITH A SMILE

Two musical artists that has been largely out of sight and greatly missed are Lady Gaga whose last album was released four years ago although she has been busy lately making movies and made a recent appearance performing in French in a musical number during the opening ceremony of this year's Olympics. And the last time we heard from Bruno Mars was with his collaboration with rapper, Anderson .Paak as a retro soul act, Silk Sonic about three years ago.

Now these two pop music superstars have come together to release a new song, "Die With a Smile". This guitar-driven soft rock track is about dying happily as long as you have the one you love in your arms, with the song charged by the powerful, soulful vocals that each is known to deliver. The music video for "Die With a Smile" (directed by Mars and Daniel Ramos) features Gaga and Mars playing characters of a lounge act in matching suits performing the song in a television studio set with manequins as audience members. Both of these artists are rumored to have new albums on the horizon and this might mean we should be seeing them out very soon.

WHO IS AYA NAKAMURA?

After her dazzling performance during the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics, many Americans were left wondering who is Aya Nakamura? Since 2017, the West African born, French national, Nakamura has become wildly popular in her adopted country with five number one singles and selling well over a million copies.

The twenty-nine year old artist did have to endure racially motivated protests by far-right nationalists to the ideal of her representing France before the ceremony. But enthusiastic support from politicians, the media and her fans prevailed with Nakamura, looking dazzling in gold, delivering an exceptional performance of a medley of her popular songs before the Olympics.

She was born Aya Danioko in the Republic of Mali in West Africa. Her family migrated to France when she was a child, growing up in the suburbs outside of Paris. Danioko had an interest in fashion and studied to become a designer. However, her desire began to wan while in school, leading her to shift towards a career in music. In 2014, she took on the surname "Nakamura" from a character on the sci-fi television series, "Heroes" and put together her first single, releasing it on Facebook. Nakamura continued working on her music which lead to her being signed with Parlophone Records two years later.

Her debut album, "Journal Intime (Diary)" became a major hit in France with the help of the song, "Comportement (Behavior)". This was followed up with "Nakamura" in 2018, an album which had six singles reaching the top-ten in France (with "Djadja" and "Copines (Friends)" peaking at number one) and achieving Diamond status which are sales of a half million copies. This success also brought attention to Nakamura from across the globe, earning nominations from the MTV Europe Music Awards and BET Awards. With her most recent album, "DNK" from last year, Nakamura continues to be a popular international performer, reaching Platinum status in sales. Here is a brief sampling of the music by Aya Nakamura: