Entertainment
African-Americans finally have a moment: Derulo on diversity
By Radhika Bhirani
New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS) American singer-songwriter Jason Derulo, who is gearing up for his maiden visit to India later this month, is celebrating the fact that African-Americans are finally having a moment in the diversity-embracing world of showbiz in the West.
In an interesting turn of events, the 2018 Grammy nominations list is diverse like never before, with rappers Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar leading the pack with eight and seven nods respectively.
For the first time since 1999, no white man was nominated for the Album of the Year category — a move lauded by many as one celebrating artistes of colour.
Derulo, who was born to Haitian parents, too is happy.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing that African-Americans finally have a moment. I think all the awards for a long period of time overlooked African-Americans,” Derulo told IANS in an email interview from Los Angeles.
One of the best-selling, radio-dominating pop and urban music artistes in the US, Derulo has his eyes set on regaling the crowd at TimeOut72, billed as Asia’s largest multi-genre music festival, to be held in Goa from December 27-29.
Wiz Khalifa, Martin Garrix, Don Diablo, Timmy Trumpet, Lucky Ali and Papon are others scheduled for attendance at the gala.
“This is my first time to India. Music is the soul of your country and I feel privileged and humbled to be coming to India. I feel very connected to India,” Derulo said.
He said he is looking forward to “bringing the biggest party” to the fest.
“I am going to be playing some of my biggest hits including ‘Swalla’, ‘Talk dirty’, ‘Whatcha say’, ‘Wiggle’ and ‘Get ugly’. I have my best dancers and musicians coming along with me, so it’s going to be a grand theatrical show with a lot of energy,” he added.
How does he perceive the music scene in India, especially at a time when it is attracting a whole lot of talent from the US, UK and elsewhere?
“The musical scale is so varied, vast and powerful in India. I would like to believe that India is as good as any country in the world when it comes to music,” added the 28-year-old, who has penned songs for names like Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Diddy and Sean Kingston.
Is there a possibility that you take an influence back from India for a song?
“You never know because India is so magical and mystical. I can’t wait to get to India,” Derulo said.
He is keen to explore the country, but he is hard pressed for time.
“I’d love to explore India but I guess it’s going to be just Goa this time. So here’s a message to all my Indian fans – come over to Goa and I promise you the best time of your lives.”
As for what’s next on the anvil for him, Derulo, who famously dated singer Jordin Sparks, said he is busy working on his album “777”, in which he dives in “more emotionally and more vulnerably” as it delves into some of his breakups and failed relationships.
(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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