Reinvigorated Katy Perry, innovative Miley Cyrus and the ghostly ‘InBetween’
Dyer in “The InBetween”
Are you having a hard time keeping up with the latest shows and songs that are being churned out quicker than you can finish your latest entertainment binge?
This Sights & Sounds corner in Inquirer Entertainment will bring you up to speed with bite-sized information about what’s out there—on the big screen, on the boob tube, onstage, in cyberspace or in the airwaves.
“The InBetween” kicked off its 10-episode run on Blue Ant Entertainment (channels 53 on Skycable, 37 on Cablelink and 120 on Cignal) at 10:35 p.m. last Friday.
The crime-drama series stars Harriet Dyer as lovely young medium Cassie Bedford, who moonlights as a bartender when she isn’t helping her father, gay police detective Tom Hackett (Paul Blackhorne), solve crimes using her psychic skills.
Her ability to communicate with the dead helps Cassie provide insights into gruesome crimes that forensic science can’t make heads or tails of—like the murder of Shannon Bell, whose eyes have been gouged out of their sockets.
Miley Cyrus in “She is Coming”
Is her death the consequence of a bitter breakup, or a result of a copycat murder from 1994?
It isn’t easy for Harriet to tie up the murder mystery’s loose ends because Tom’s brand-new partner, the Harvard-educated former FBI profiler Damien Asante (Justin Cornwell), doesn’t believe in the supernatural. What would it take for Damien to believe that Harriet is the real deal?
On the music scene, two of pop music’s fearless females—Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus—are out to prove their hitmaking pertinence in the age of Ariana Grande and Cardi B.
Katy is banking on love that is “trickling back in” after a painful falling out. Are you listening, Orlando Bloom?
Boosted by a reverberating electro-pop hook that frames the songstress’ searing and soaring vocals, “Never Really Over” is about an on-again, off-again romance Katy can’t seem to leave behind.
Paul Blackhorne
She may have been in an artistic rut for some time now, but the 34-year-old pop star is on track to extricate herself out of the protracted slump.
But as she demonstrated in the past, Katy can make her songs resonate with music lovers when the subject matter is closer to home.
We’ll let her lyrics speak for themselves: Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over/And if I think it’s over, maybe you’ll be coming over again/And I’ll have to get over you all over again.
For her part, Miley Cyrus continues to satisfy her supporters with music that doesn’t pander to pop lovers’ predictable or pedestrian tastes.
“She is Coming,” Miley’s six-track latest recording is the first part of a three-EP (extended play) rollout intended to introduce her upcoming seventh studio album, “She is Miley Cyrus”—and it doesn’t disappoint.
Katy Perry
Its release and distribution strategy acknowledges the streaming generation’s unique way of consuming music these days. But even without her appealing collaborations with Ghostface Killah (“D.R.E.A.M.”), Swae Lee and Mike Will Made-It (“Party Up the Street”) and RuPaul (the rap-heavy party banger “Cattitude”), Miley knows how to tease and please even without anybody’s help.
In “Mother’s Daughter,” the women empowerment anthem is heightened some more when Miley warns people not to “f*ck with my freedom,” while she makes no apologies about her character-forming imperfections in “Unholy.”
But the collection’s most striking track is “The Most,” an earnest ballad that is as significant for its rhythmic patter as it is for lyrics that ooze with genuine affection: How many times have I left you in the deep?/And even in my darkest days, even in my lowest place/You love me the most.”
Take a bow, Liam Hemsworth.
