title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: In the summer of 2011, Jepsen recorded material for her second album with Josh Ramsay, Ryan Stewart, and Tavish Crowe. The track "Call Me Maybe", co-written by Crowe, was released in September 2011. The song received a promotion from fellow Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber, leading Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, to sign Jepsen to a joint worldwide record deal with his label, Schoolboy Records, and major label Interscope Records. "Call Me Maybe" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making Jepsen the fourth Canadian artist to top the chart. In the US, the single spent nine weeks at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, earning the title "Song of the Summer" from "Billboard" magazine. The single was the best-selling single of 2012 worldwide and topped the charts in 19 countries,including the United Kingdom, where it was the year's second best-selling single. The song was included on Jepsen's six-track EP, "Curiosity", released in February 2012 in Canada. Following the success of "Call Me Maybe", Jepsen recorded the top ten duet "Good Time" with Owl City, released in June 2012.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen's second album, "Kiss", was released in September 2012 and reached the top ten chart positions in Australia, the UK, Canada and the US. The album received music recording certifications of 2x Platinum in the US and Gold in Canada. The album also included the singles "This Kiss" and "Tonight I'm Getting Over You". The same year, Jepsen became a spokesperson and model for clothing retailer Wet Seal and appeared on the fifth-season premiere episode of The CW primetime soap opera "90210". At the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, Jepsen was the first Canadian recipient of the Rising Star Award while "Call Me Maybe" later received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: In January 2013, Jepsen became a spokesperson for clothing/footwear brand Candie's. She released new ads for the brand in July 2013. In April 2013, at the Juno Awards of 2013, "Kiss" won the awards for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. "Call Me Maybe" won in the Single of the Year category. In June 2013, "", a compilation album containing remixes and instrumentals of singles from "Kiss", was released in Japan and peaked at number 157 on the Oricon albums chart. From June to October 2013, Jepsen embarked on The Summer Kiss Tour in North America and Asia.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: In Spring 2014, she performed in the Broadway theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" for 12 weeks. In June 2014, Jepsen won the International Achievement Award at the SOCAN Awards alongside co-writers Josh Ramsay and Tavish Crowe.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen released her third album's lead single, "I Really Like You", in March 2015. Accompanied by a music video in which actor Tom Hanks lip-synced to the song, it peaked at number 14 in Canada and the top five in the UK. The album, titled "Emotion", was released in June 2015. Although it was a relative commercial failure compared to "Kiss", it received critical acclaim and a cult following, attracting a more mature audience to her music. The album peaked at number eight in Canada and at number 16 on the US "Billboard" 200. It includes collaborations with Rostam Batmanglij, Sia, Dev Hynes, Greg Kurstin, and Ariel Rechtshaid. The second single, "Run Away with Me", was released in July 2015. In November 2015, Jepsen embarked on the Gimmie Love Tour in support of "Emotion". Jepsen was also featured on a new version of Bleachers' song "Shadow" from their album "Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2" and released a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas". In December 2015, Jepsen recorded the theme song for the Netflix series "Fuller House", a remake of the theme to "Full House".


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: In January 2016, Jepsen played Frenchy in "Grease Live", Fox's live television presentation of the musical "Grease". As part of her role, she performed a new song entitled "All I Need Is an Angel". In March 2016, she appeared on The Knocks' debut album "55". In August 2016, Jepsen released "", an EP containing eight cut tracks from "Emotion". The EP received critical acclaim from "Rolling Stone" and "Pitchfork". In May 2017, Jepsen released the single "Cut to the Feeling". The song was originally intended for "Emotion", but instead appeared in the animated film "Ballerina", in which Jepsen voices a supporting role. It also appeared on the Japanese deluxe version of the Side B EP.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: In early 2018, Jepsen appeared as the opening act for Katy Perry's . "Party for One", the lead single from Jepsen's fourth studio album, was released in November 2018. Two more singles, "Now That I Found You" and "No Drug Like Me" followed in February 2019, with "Julien" and "Too Much" being released as the fourth and fifth respective singles. By then, Braun was no longer Jepsen's manager, although she was still signed to School Boy Records.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Her fourth album, "Dedicated", was released on May 17, 2019, with a tour beginning June 27. Jepsen performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert in November 2019. On May 21, 2020, the companion album "Dedicated Side B" was released, containing twelve additional tracks from "Dedicated".. In October 2020, Jepsen released "It's Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries" which peaked at 11 on the US Holiday Digital Songs chart.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Following Dedicated Side B's release, Jepsen confirmed that she was making a "quarantine album" alongside long-time friend and songwriter Tavish Crowe, whom she wrote "Call Me Maybe" with. In May 2022, Jepsen announced at her Coachella performance the lead single from her sixth studio album, "Western Wind", which was released on 6 May 2022. On 3 August 2022, Jepsen announced via her social media the release of her sixth studio album, "The Loneliest Time", released on 21 October 2022, and shortly after released the second single from the album, "Beach House" and the third single "Talking to Yourself" the following month. The title track featuring Rufus Wainwright, was the fourth and final single for the album, releasing on 8 October 2022. Over on social media platform TikTok, the song became a viral success for its memorable bridge "I'm coming back for you baby, I'm coming back for you!", amassing nearly 200,000 videos since its release, and amongst those videos celebrities such as Meghan Trainor. Following the album's release, the album debuted at number 18 on the Canadian Albums Chart, number 19 on the " Billboard" 200, and number 16 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming her highest charting album in the UK in ten years. In support and for the promotion of the album, Jepsen embarked on The So Nice Tour from September 2022 to March 2023 and is scheduled to play 40 shows across North America, Europe and Australia. In December 2022, Jepsen recorded the theme song for the Amazon Kids+ series, Hello Kitty: Super Style!.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen has been noted for her "subversively catchy lyrics, slick musical arrangements, and pop experimentation". Jepsen is classified as a soprano. Paul Bradley of "LA Weekly" described Jepsen's voice as "hushed" and "flawless" while Maura Johnston of "Slate" characterized it as "airy yet precise".


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen says she shares her parents' interest in folk music as a result of her upbringing, naming artists such as Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, and Van Morrison as inspirations for her debut album, "Tug of War" (2008). During the recording of her EP "Curiosity" and her second album, "Kiss" (both 2012), Jepsen said she became increasingly influenced by pop and dance music, in particular the works of Dragonette, Kimbra, La Roux, and Robyn. Her third album, "Emotion" (2015), drew from her love of 1980s pop artists including Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Prince.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen has also expressed admiration for Cat Power, Christine and the Queens, Tegan and Sara, Bleachers, Kate Bush, Bob Dylan, Sky Ferreira, Dev Hynes, Solange Knowles, Joni Mitchell, Sinéad O'Connor, the Spice Girls, and Hank Williams.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen has been referred to as the "Queen of Pop" or similar in articles for NPR, "Stereogum", "Time", and BBC.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen has also been referred to as a "queer icon", having performed at several pride parades and with the majority of the audience at her performances usually being gay men in their 30s. In March 2013, Jepsen as an activist and supporter of the LGBT community, pulled out of performing at the Boy Scouts of America 2013 National Scout Jamboree due its policy on homosexuality.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: During the early years of her music career (2007 to 2012), Jepsen was based in Vancouver. But as Call Me Maybe grew rapidly in popularity around the world, Jepsen slowly began relocating to Los Angeles to be closer to more of the songwriters and producers she worked with. By 2019, she completed her relocation to Los Angeles. In 2022, she added a studio to her home in response to the COVID-19's restrictions at the time from preventing her travelling to external studios.


title: Carly Rae Jepsen

text: Jepsen dated architecture student Jordi Ashworth between 2011 and 2012 and was the inspiration for "Call Me Maybe". From late 2012 until 2015, she dated Matthew Koma after meeting each other while working on her second studio album "Kiss". From 2015 to 2017, she dated photographer, David Kalani Larkins. From 2017 to 2019, Jepsen dated James Flannigan. As of 2022, Jepsen is currently dating Cole M.G.N.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (; born March 16, 1988) is an American singer who embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in several music videos for R&B group B2K. In an effort to promote Aiko and cultivate a following for her, she was marketed as B2K member Lil' Fizz's cousin; she is not actually related to him. In 2003, Aiko was set to release her debut album, "My Name Is Jhené", through her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic; however, the album was never released, and Aiko asked to be released from the label in order to continue her education.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In March 2011, Aiko made her return to music with the release of her first full-length project, a mixtape titled "Sailing Soul(s)". On December 16, 2011, Aiko signed a recording contract with American record producer No I.D.'s record label ARTium, under the aegis of Def Jam Recordings. In 2013, Aiko appeared on Big Sean's single "Beware" alongside Lil Wayne, which became her first top 40 single on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. In November 2013, she released her first project for Artium and Def Jam, an extended play (EP), titled "Sail Out". The EP was supported by the singles "", "Bed Peace" (featuring Childish Gambino) and "The Worst", the latter of which went on to become certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko released her major-label debut album, "Souled Out", on September 9, 2014. On September 22, 2017, she released her second studio album "Trip". On March 6, 2020, she released her third studio album, "Chilombo", which earned Aiko three Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo was born on March 16, 1988, in Los Angeles, California. Her family lived in South Los Angeles, but their home burned down when she was seven so they moved near Slauson Avenue around View Park–Windsor Hills, Baldwin Hills, and Ladera Heights where she was homeschooled until high school. She calls her home neighborhood "Slauson Hills". Aiko is the daughter of Christina Yamamoto and pediatrician Karamo Chilombo (born Gregory Wycliff Barnes). Her parents are divorced. Aiko has seven siblings, four from both her mother and father's side and three half siblings from her father's side. Her sister is R&B singer Mila J. Her mother is of Spanish, Dominican, and Japanese descent, and her father is of Native American, African-American, and German-Jewish descent. Her maternal grandfather is Japanese and her maternal grandmother is Creole Dominican with Spanish ancestry. She took vocal lessons in Culver City, but quit when she unexpectedly became pregnant.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko embarked on her musical career contributing vocals to several B2K releases, as well as a song on "The Master of Disguise" soundtrack in 2002, while signed to The Ultimate Group and managed by Chris Stokes. During this time she was known as the cousin of B2K's rapper, Lil' Fizz, though she is not actually related to him. It was used as a marketing tool, suggested by her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic Records, to promote Aiko through B2K and attract an audience; nonetheless Aiko affirms that she and Lil' Fizz grew up together and were close like family. She featured on tracks five through eight of the R&B group's remix album "". "Santa Baby", a cover she recorded, was also featured on their album "Santa Hooked Me Up" and she appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Tease" from "Pandemonium!". Her song "Dog" appeared as a bonus track.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko also appeared in numerous music videos including O'Ryan's debut video, "Take It Slow", B2K's debut video "Uh Huh" and "Why I Love You", P.Y.T.'s "Same Ol' Same Ol' (Remix)" featuring Sarai, Play's "M.A.S.T.E.R. (Part 2)" featuring Lil' Fizz video and Morgan Smith's 2004 video "Blow Ya Whistle". Aiko also has songs featured on the soundtracks of "Barbershop", "The Master of Disguise", "You Got Served", "The Proud Family" and "Byou". She released a video for her single "NO L.O.V.E" (re-recorded from Tha' Rayne version in 2002), which debuted on BET's "106 & Park" when she was 15 years old. Aiko was set to release her debut album, then-titled "My Name Is Jhené" in 2003 through Sony, The Ultimate Group, Epic; however, the album was never released due to tension at the record label Epic, which ultimately led to Aiko asking to be released from the label. Aiko later left the aforementioned labels in order to continue her education.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In 2007, she made a return to music, in an interview she spoke on the choice saying "Shortly before I conceived my daughter, I stepped back into the field and took a meeting with a label head. In this meeting, I was innocently told, to 'sell' myself when walking into these meetings. "That's when I decided I would 'sail' myself rather than sell myself."


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko released a mixtape on March 16, 2011 titled "Sailing Soul(s)" via her official website, JheneAiko.com. All the songs on the mixtape were written by her, except "July". The mixtape featured collaborations from Miguel, Drake and Kanye West as well as others. To promote the mixtape Aiko was joined by R&B singer Miguel on a one off free secret performance on Sunday, July 15. On October 21, 2012 Aiko released a music video for the song "My Mine". Aiko also released a video for the mixtape's second track, "Stranger". In 2011, she also began working closely with artists from Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment such as Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, the latter was featured on her EP released November 12, 2013 titled "Sail Out".


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In 2012, Aiko met with No I.D., record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam, who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint through Def Jam. Aiko released the track "3:16AM", which was made available for digital download on iTunes September 4, 2012. The song was released as the first single from "Sail Out". In 2012, Aiko was also the opening act on the highly anticipated "Life Is Good/Black Rage" concert tour headlined by fellow American artists, rapper Nas and singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill. In June 2013, Aiko was featured on the Big Sean song "Beware", which became her first song to chart on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. In October 2013, it was revealed Aiko would open for Canadian rapper Drake on his Would You like a Tour? concert tour.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko then released her debut EP "Sail Out", on November 12, 2013. The EP debuted at number eight on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, with first-week sales of 34,000 copies. On January 14, 2014, "The Worst" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States as the album's third single. On May 2, 2014 "The Worst" rose from three to one on the airplay Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop, in doing so she became the first female artist to top the chart as a lead with a debut single since Jazmine Sullivan in 2008. The song peaked on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at forty-three, becoming Aiko's first solo release to chart in the region, the song also peaked at number eleven on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs


title: Jhené Aiko

text: On January 18, 2014, Aiko appeared on "Saturday Night Live" performing the song "From Time", with the episode's guest host, Drake. In a January 2014 interview with "Vibe", Aiko announced her debut studio album "Souled Out" would be released in May 2014. However, the album would be delayed. On March 16, 2014, Aiko premiered a song titled "My Afternoon Dream," produced by Key Wane, along with an accompanying music video directed by Aiko and Krissy. On June 23, 2014, "To Love & Die", was released for digital download as the album's lead single. Following its release "To Love & Die" debuted and peaked at number forty-six on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. On June 26, 2014, Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd, announced he would be headlining the ""King of the Fall Tour"", essentially a mini-tour across America in September / October 2014, the tour will consist of four shows and start on September 19, 2014 in New York, at the Barclays Center and end on October 10 in San Francisco, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Aiko and frequent collaborator ScHoolboy Q, were confirmed as the tour's supporting acts, respectively.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: After three years of recording Aiko released her debut album "Souled Out" on September 8, 2014. An anticipated release, the album was released to commercial and critical success. The album debuted at number three on the US "Billboard" 200, selling 70,000 copies in its opening week, in doing so the album became that week's second highest debut and doubled the first week sales of Aiko's debut extended play "Sail Out" (2013). The album also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and US R&B Albums and has sold 121,012 units in the US. The album produced a further three singles: the album's second single, "The Pressure", was released on iTunes on July 18, 2014. The Pressure debuted at number twenty five on the US Hot R&B Songs chart, and peaked the following week, at number twenty three. "Wading" was released as the album's third single on December 12, 2014 along with an accompanying video, followed by the release of Spotless Mind Her debut album was included on numerous critics' year end lists and was described by Gail Mitchell of "Billboard" as one of the albums to breakthrough and "make some noise" in the R&B genre. Following the release of the song "Post to Be", a collaboration with Omarion, the line "I might let your boy chauffeur me, but he gotta eat the booty like groceries" was described as a standout lyric and "the lyric of the summer, or the lyric of the year," by Rob Markman, editor for MTV News.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In February 2015, Aiko was nominated for three Grammy Awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best R&B Song for "The Worst" and Best Urban Contemporary Album for "Sail Out". The same month it was announced that Aiko would join rapper J. Cole on his tour entitled, Forest Hills Drive Tour. On March 19, 2015 Aiko released the free song "Living Room Flow."


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko covered "In a World of My Own / Very Good Advice" from the Disney film Alice in Wonderland, the cover was included on the "We Love Disney" compilation album which was released in October 2015.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In March 2016, Aiko announced a collaboration album with rapper Big Sean, under the name Twenty88, their self-titled debut album was made available to stream exclusively on TIDAL for four days, and was made available for download on April 1. According to the duo, "TWENTY88 tells the story of the highs and lows of a relationship, with insights into conflict, memories, love, sex, and more and features production from Key Wane, Detail, and Tommy Brown." From late 2016 to mid-2017, Aiko released numerous non-album singles such as "Maniac", "First Fuck" with 6lack and "Hello Ego" featuring Chris Brown. The lead single to her second studio album, "While We're Young', was released in June 2016. Aiko's second album, "Trip", was released without a prior announcement on September 22, 2017. The lead single, "While We're Young", was released on June 9, 2017, for streaming and digital download. A 23-minute autobiographical film titled after the album was also released a day before Trip on September 21, 2017, co-directed by Aiko. On September 27, 2017, American singer Lana Del Rey revealed that Aiko would be opening for her on select dates of her concert tour entitled the LA to the Moon Tour during January 2018. Aiko toured with Del Rey from January 5 to 13.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: On May 8, 2019, Aiko released "Triggered (Freestyle)", which debuted at number fifty-one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and peaked at number 3 on the US R&B Songs. It is the first official single from her forthcoming 2019 album. The freestyle discussed various topics, including her past relationships. There were immediate rumors that the song might have been addressing Aiko's ex-boyfriend, Big Sean. However, Aiko went on Twitter to dispell the rumors about "Triggered (freestyle)" being a diss track.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko's third studio album, "Chilombo", was released in March 2020. On February 13, 2022, she performed America the Beautiful before Super Bowl LVI.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: In July 2022, Aiko started the imprint Allel Sound in collaboration with Def Jam records. She signed rapper August 08 and features on the latter's single "Water Sign".


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko was baptized when she was 16 at the evangelical Pentecostal Foursquare Church. She dated American R&B singer O'Ryan from 2005 to 2008. At the age of 20, Aiko gave birth to her daughter with O'Ryan on November 19, 2008.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Before her brother Miyagi died of cancer on July 19, 2012, Aiko recorded "For My Brother" on her laptop, which was initially intended only for her brother to hear. He was able to listen to the song shortly before his death.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: On August 27, 2013, Aiko was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles along with her daughter Namiko, older sister Miyoko, and her daughter's father, O'Ryan. She suffered various injuries, but the other passengers were unharmed.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: On March 16, 2016, Aiko and Oladipo "Dot da Genius" Omishore revealed they were married. On August 9, 2016, Aiko filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in October 2017.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Since 2016, Aiko has been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Big Sean. Their son Noah Hasani was born on November 8, 2022.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko is a soprano. "Rap-Up" says that she possesses "gentle pop-tinged vocals" and a "sensually sweet voice" while Jim Farber of the "New York Daily News" describes her voice as having a "feathery tone, sky-high pitch and dazed delivery" that floats "above the beat, sexy and aloof"; Farber has also said that Aiko is "the female answer" to Frank Ocean. Jordan Sargent of Pitchfork Media compared Aiko's vocals to those of R&B singers Cassie, Brandy, Ciara and, the late Aaliyah. Thematically Aiko's work contains direct and "acute" lyrics that can be sometimes "girlish." Adam Fleischer of MTV described Aiko's lyrical content as being "catchy and emotive", continuing to note Aiko's lyrics as having no boundaries; which mix "moments of sensitivity and love, but also moments of confusion and aggression."


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko's musical style is associated with a new wave of music called PBR&B, which is described as emerging, stylistic alternative to contemporary R&B. Besides PBR&B, Aiko explores a variety of genres including psychedelic music, classic R&B and hip hop music. Aiko has described herself as being part of this movement, she noted her own musical style as being "alternative" and a "new-generation R&B", which she compared herself to the style of Frank Ocean, Miguel and Drake. Described by Erin Lowers a reviewer from XXL magazine, Aiko's music is alternative R&B, which the reviewer described as being created with the use of heavily used synthesizers and "wooly drum loops", the reviewer continued to say that her genre is caught in a "revolutionized limbo." Bradley Stern of Time, compared the Aiko's musical style to the work of Sade, calling the album's genre "future R&B", Stern continued to compare her music to the work of The Weeknd, Tinashe and FKA twigs.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko writes music every day, often writing lines or a poem, and begins to add them to melodies. She describes her writing style as "freestyle," where she just says how she is feeling, taking a day or up to a month to complete. Aiko is noted for being an author to her first published book 2Fish(2017).This book contains a collection of poems, songs, and drawings she's created from the age of twelve up to the books publication date. Aiko reveals several lyrical verses in her book that can be found in her album Trip which was released the same year as the publication of 2Fish. During the recording of the album Aiko opted to freestyle when writing the album, she would have a beat or would sit with producers and she would sing a melody until she had words, she described the process as not having a lot written down saying "there's not a lot of writing down—I'll only write it down to make sure it makes sense after I come up with it. For the most part, I like to not have second thoughts." Aiko revealed that whilst writing music she enjoys being high in order to use the feeling as inspiration and that for the entire writing and recording process of her debut mixtape Sailing Soul(s), she was under the influence of cannabis. When writing for her debut studio album, she did the same but recorded while sober. Aiko places great importance on writing her music, believing it defines her as an artist: "After each song I've lost like a piece of me, because I've put it in to (sic) the song." Singer Nick Jonas cited Aiko as an influence during the recording of his debut album, noting her alternative R&B sound as his influence.


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko cites American rapper Tupac as a major influence, saying he is "a big inspiration for me just to stick to who I am and to actually stand for something through music" and "an icon for speaking your mind and being you, even if it's controversial." Aiko also cites R&B singers Aaliyah and Ciara as well as rappers Eminem and Kendrick Lamar as influences. Aiko also calls recording artist Kid Cudi, a major influence, stating Cudi is "pretty much one of the only people that I listen to consistently. No matter what he puts out, I'm one of those fans. He can do no wrong in my eyes."


title: Jhené Aiko

text: Aiko also credits Brandy as a major influence, saying, "I always say the person who taught me how to sing indirectly because I listened to her all the time was Brandy. I fell in love with her voice when I was six years old. I always loved Brandy." Aiko also listens to Beyoncé to learn from her vocal technique and is also influenced by India.Arie and Amel Larrieux. Aiko is influenced by John Mayer saying "He's probably one of my number one musical influences because of his writing ability and his voice."


title: Jhené Aiko

text: During the recording of her debut extended play "Sail Out" (2013), Aiko stated she took a large amount of influence from hip-hop and rap music notably the genre's beats. Aiko has stated growing up in a musical family influenced her, noting her siblings bands as an influence, Aiko also cited R&B band TLC as an influence when growing up. During the 1990s, she began listening to Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, and Lil' Kim, stating her influences were a mixture, following this Aiko began listening to Sade Adu.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against the Machine and his activism, de la Rocha promotes left-wing politics in opposition to corporate America, the military-industrial complex and government oppression.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: De la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California, on January 12, 1970, to Robert "Beto" de la Rocha, and Olivia Lorryne Carter. His father is a Mexican-American, with some African and Sephardi Jewish heritage, while his mother was born to Manuel García Urias, a Mexican-American, and Olive Pearl Fleming, who was of German and Irish heritage. Beto was a muralist and a member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a museum (LACMA, 1973). De la Rocha's great grandfather, Jose Isaac de la Rocha Acosta (18821920), was a Mexican revolutionary who fought in the Mexican Revolution. His grandfather Isaac de la Rocha (1909 - 1985) was an agricultural laborer in the U.S. De La Rocha would later see the hardships his grandfather endured reflected in the struggles of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: De la Rocha's parents divorced when he was six, and he moved from East Los Angeles to Irvine with his mother, who attended the University of California at Irvine and earned a PhD in anthropology. De la Rocha later described Irvine as "one of the most racist cities imaginable" and said that "if you were a Mexican in Irvine, you were there because you had a broom or a hammer in your hand."


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: De la Rocha met Tim Commerford in elementary school, and in junior high school, they both played guitar in a band called Juvenile Expression. De la Rocha's interest in punk rock bands like The Clash, The Misfits, Sex Pistols, and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and The Teen Idles. In 1987, he joined the straight edge band Hard Stance. In 2018, Indecision Records officially released Hard Stance's entire discography.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: By 1988, singer Eric Ernst had departed from Hard Stance, leading to Rocha taking on the role of lead vocals. Now lacking a guitarist, the remaining members contacted Vic DiCara, whom some knew from a previous band they were in that never made it past rehearsals. This act, now named Inside Out, began writing music heavily inspired by acts like Minor Threat and the Bad Brains, and soon were associated with the youth crew movement. Their sole release was the 1990 EP No Spiritual Surrender, issued through Revelation Records.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Towards the end of the band's lifetime, DiCara and Rocha's writing styles began to fracture. Rocha wished to push the groups into a more political and hip hop-inspired direction, particularly influenced by Run-DMC, whereas DiCara wished for the band to write more music inspired by Hare Krishna. While Rocha's influence was prevalent on performed yet unreleased Inside Out tracks like "Darkness of Greed" and "Rage Against the Machine", the band broke up because of this conflict in 1991. De la Rocha later said that the band was "about completely detaching ourselves from society to see ourselves as ... as spirits, and not bowing down to a system that sees you as just another pebble on a beach. I channeled all my anger out through that band."


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: The band had a brief reunion in 1993, performing in a number of locations including multiple in Salt Lake City.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Following the dissolution of Inside Out in 1991, de la Rocha embraced hip hop and began freestyling at local clubs, at one of which he was approached by former Lock Up guitarist Tom Morello, who was impressed by de la Rocha's lyrics, and convinced him to form a band. Morello recruited former Greta drummer Brad Wilk–who had previously auditioned for Lock Up before that band's dissolution earlier that same year–and de la Rocha recruited his former Juvenile Expression bandmate, Tim Commerford, to play bass. The band was named after an unreleased Inside Out record, "Rage Against the Machine".


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Rage Against the Machine released their debut album in 1992 to critical and commercial success. The band was on the main stage at Lollapalooza by 1993 and was one of the most politically charged bands ever to receive extensive airplay from radio and MTV. Rage's second and third albums peaked at number one in the United States, but did not result in the political action de la Rocha had hoped for. He became increasingly restless and undertook collaborations with artists such as KRS-One, Chuck D, and Public Enemy. He left Rage Against the Machine in October 2000, citing "creative differences," at which time he issued a statement saying: "it was necessary to leave Rage because our decision-making process has completely failed", in reference to the disagreement over the release of "Renegades". The other members of the band sought out separate management and secured the immediate release of "Renegades". After searching for a replacement for de la Rocha, the other members of Rage joined Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to form Audioslave.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Following the disbandment of Rage Against the Machine, de la Rocha worked on a solo album he had been recording since before the band's dissolution, working with DJ Shadow, El-P, Muggs, Dan The Automator, Roni Size, DJ Premier and Questlove with production partner James Poyser. The album never came to fruition, and de la Rocha started a new collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, in which around 20 tracks were produced. Reznor thought the work was "excellent", but said the songs will likely never be released as de la Rocha was not "ready to make a record" at that time.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: In 2000, de la Rocha appeared on the song "Centre of the Storm", from the Roni Size/Reprazent album "In The Mode", while in 2002, he appeared in a minor role in the first part of the Blackalicious song "Release" on the album "Blazing Arrow". A new collaboration between de la Rocha and DJ Shadow, the song "March of Death" was released for free online in 2003 in protest against the imminent invasion of Iraq. As part of the collaboration de la Rocha released a statement which included the following:


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: The 2004 soundtrack "Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11" included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "We Want It All". This album also contained "No One Left", the debut recording by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman. On October 7, 2005, de la Rocha returned to the stage with new material, performing with Son Jarocho band Son de Madera. He later spoke as MC and again performed with Son de Madera at the November 22 Concert at the Farm, a benefit concert for the South Central Farmers. He sang and played the jarana with the band, and performed his own new original material, including the song "Sea of Dead Hands".


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: On September 8, 2016, it was reported that de la Rocha's first solo album was complete and would be released in early 2017. The news came with a new song, produced by El-P, called "Digging for Windows" that was released on YouTube and BitTorrent. However, to date, the album remains unreleased with no further announcements made.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007 and were confirmed on January 22. The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007. Rage Against the Machine, as a full band, headlined the final day of the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 29. The band played in front of a Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) backdrop to the largest crowds of the festival. The performance was initially thought to be a one-off, but this turned out not to be the case. The band played 7 more shows in the United States in 2007, and in January 2008, they played their first shows outside the US as part of the Big Day Out Festival in Australia and New Zealand. The band continued to tour around the world, headlining many large festivals in Europe and the United States, including Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. In a 2008 interview, de la Rocha said this of the relationship between him, Commerford, Wilk and Morello:


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Later in 2011, de la Rocha and the rest of Rage Against the Machine reunited for one final show, headlining, LA Rising July 30, 2011. The show filled the LA Coliseum.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: A second reunion tour was announced for the spring of 2020. The band was scheduled to perform 52 shows (39 in the United States, 5 in Canada, and 8 in Europe) from March 26 to September 12 but were forced to postpone the tour until 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was eventually cancelled after de la Rocha tore his Achilles tendon halfway through the second show.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: In 2008, de la Rocha and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore formed One Day as a Lion. They later added Joey Karam of The Locust on keyboards for their live shows. The group combines rock drumming, electro keyboards, and hip-hop vocals. De la Rocha played keyboards as well as providing vocals, with Theodore on the drums for their self-titled EP. They released their debut EP, "One Day as a Lion", on July 22, 2008.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: For a brief period in 1988, Rocha played drums for hardcore punk band No For An Answer, even playing on their debut EP "You Laugh".


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: In 1991, Rocha formed a band with John Porcelly based at the Revelation Records headquarters in Huntington Beach, California, in which Rocha was the vocalist and Porcelly played guitar. Although the group never officially had a name, at one point in time, Rocha proposed the name "Rage Against the Machine", however Porcelly believed the name to be too long, leading to Rocha using it as the name for his other band at the time. The band's music merged elements of hardcore punk and hip hop.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: De la Rocha advocates in favor of Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the Zapatista (EZLN) movement in Mexico. He spoke on the floor of the UN, testifying against the United States and its treatment of Abu-Jamal. De la Rocha has been particularly outspoken on the cause of the EZLN. De la Rocha and Rage Against The Machine hosted a benefit show in January 1999 alongside the Beastie Boys to raise attention towards Abu-Jamal's case. The concert was mired in controversy as New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman denounced the show and encouraged people not to attend; the show ultimately sold out.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Zack's Chicano identity informed his band's commitment to what they view as the struggles of immigrants, people of color, and the Zapatistas. He renamed the People's Resource Center in Highland Park to the "Centro de Regeneracion". There, many of the same artists and activists who had participated in the struggle over the Peace and Justice Center maintained their commitment to providing youth a space for cultural expression and training. Along with music workshops and the development of Radio Clandestina, Centro members also organized graffiti workshops and youth film festivals. The Centro lasted only two years; within that timespan it was viewed by its members and staff as an important space in the ongoing institutionalization of the community politics, cultural practices, and social networks of the Eastside scene in the nineties.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: The EZLN and de la Rocha's experiences with them inspired the songs "People of the Sun", "Wind Below" and "Without a Face" from "Evil Empire", and "War Within a Breath" from "The Battle of Los Angeles". Zack de la Rocha asked their record label, Epic Records, for $30,000 to donate to the EZLN. It is not known if they complied. The EZLN flag has been used as a stage backdrop at all of the band's shows since their reunion in April 2007. On his post-Rage political music, de la Rocha admitted that it was near impossible for him to draw the line between politics and music.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: On April 14, 2007, Morello and de la Rocha reunited on-stage early to perform a brief acoustic set at House of Blues in Chicago at the rally for fair food with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included". At Rage's first reunion show, de la Rocha made a speech during "Wake Up" in which de la Rocha called numerous American presidents war criminals, citing a statement by Noam Chomsky regarding the Nuremberg Principles.


title: Zack de la Rocha

text: Like bandmate Tom Morello, Zack de la Rocha is vegetarian. In an interview, he stated, "I think vegetarianism is really great, and I stand really strongly behind it. I think that an animal goes through a lot of pain in the whole cycle of death in the slaughterhouse; just living to be killed. I just don't think it's worth eating that animal. There's so much other food out there that doesn't have to involve you in that cycle of pain and death."


title: Baltic states

text: The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are sometimes referred to as the "Baltic nations", less often and in historical circumstances also as the "Baltic republics", the "Baltic lands", or simply the Baltics.


title: Baltic states

text: All three Baltic countries are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain a very high Human Development Index. The three governments engage in intergovernmental and parliamentary cooperation. There is also frequent cooperation in foreign and security policy, defence, energy, and transportation.


title: Baltic states

text: The term "Baltic states" ("countries", "nations", or similar) cannot be used unambiguously in the context of cultural areas, national identity, or language. While the majority of the population both in Latvia and Lithuania are indeed Baltic peoples (Latvians and Lithuanians), the majority in Estonia (Estonians) are culturally and linguistically Finnic.


title: Baltic states

text: After the First World War the term "Baltic states" came to refer to countries by the Baltic Sea that had gained independence from the Russian Empire. The term includes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and originally also included Finland, which later became grouped among the Nordic countries.


title: Baltic states

text: The areas of what are now the independent Baltic countries have seen different regional and imperial affiliations during their existence. The greater part of the three modern states' territory was for the first time included in the same political entity when the Russian Empire expanded in the 18th century. Estonia and northern part of Latvia were ceded by Sweden, and incorporated into the Russian Empire at the end of the Great Northern War in 1721, while most of the territory of what is now Lithuania came under the Russian rule after the Third Partition of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Large parts of the Baltic countries were controlled by the Russian Empire until the final stages of World War I in 1918, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gained their sovereignty. The three countries were independent until the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, all three countries were invaded, occupied and annexed by the Stalinist Soviet Union. In 1941 followed the invasion and occupation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by Nazi Germany, before the Red Army reinvaded in 1944–1945 and the Soviet Union was able to regain control over the three countries until 1991. Soviet rule ended in the Baltic countries in 1989–1991 as the newly elected parliaments of the three nations declared the Soviet occupation illegal, culminating with the full restoration of the independence of the three countries in August 1991.


title: Baltic states

text: As World War I came to a close, Lithuania declared independence and Latvia formed a provisional government. Estonia had already obtained autonomy from tsarist Russia in 1917, and declared independence in February 1918, but was subsequently occupied by the German Empire until November 1918. Estonia fought a successful war of independence against Soviet Russia in 1918–1920. Latvia and Lithuania followed a similar process, until the completion of the Latvian War of Independence and Lithuanian Wars of Independence in 1920.


title: Baltic states

text: During the interwar period these countries were sometimes referred to as "limitrophe states" between the two World Wars, from the French, indicating their collectively forming a rim along Bolshevik Russia's, later the Soviet Union's, western border. They were also part of what Georges Clemenceau considered a strategic "cordon sanitaire", the entire territory from Finland in the north to Romania in the south, standing between Western Europe and potential Bolshevik territorial ambitions.


title: Baltic states

text: All three Baltic countries experienced a period of authoritarian rule by a head of state who had come to power after a bloodless coup: Antanas Smetona in Lithuania (1926–1940), Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia (1934–1940), and Konstantin Päts during the "era of silence" (1934–1938) in Estonia, respectively. Some note that the events in Lithuania differed from the other two countries, with Smetona having different motivations as well as securing power 8 years before any such events in Latvia or Estonia took place. Despite considerable political turmoil in Finland no such events took place there. Finland did however get embroiled in a bloody civil war, something that did not happen in the Baltics. Some controversy surrounds the Baltic authoritarian régimes – due to the general stability and rapid economic growth of the period (even if brief), some commenters avoid the label "authoritarian"; others, however, condemn such an "apologetic" attitude, for example in later assessments of Kārlis Ulmanis.


title: Baltic states

text: In accordance with a secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 that divided Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, the Soviet Army invaded eastern Poland in September 1939, and the Stalinist Soviet government coerced Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into "mutual assistance treaties" which granted USSR the right to establish military bases in these countries. In June 1940, the Red Army occupied all of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and installed new, pro-Soviet puppet governments. In all three countries simultaneously, rigged elections (in which only pro-Stalinist candidates were allowed to run) were staged in July 1940, the newly assembled "parliaments" in each of the three countries then unanimously applied to join the Soviet Union, and in August 1940 were incorporated into the USSR as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.


title: Baltic states

text: Repressions, executions and mass deportations followed after that in the Baltics. The Soviet Union attempted to Sovietize its occupied territories, by means such as deportations and instituting the Russian language as the only working language. Between 1940 and 1953, the Soviet government deported more than 200,000 people from the Baltics to remote locations in the Soviet Union. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulags. About 10% of the adult Baltic population were deported or sent to labor camps. (See June deportation, Soviet deportations from Estonia, Sovietization of the Baltic states)


title: Baltic states

text: The Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of the region in 1941. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians considered the German army as liberators, while having hoped for the restoration of each of the three countries' independence, but instead the Nazi German invaders established a civil administration, known as the "Reichskommissariat Ostland". During the occupation the Nazi authorities carried out ghettoisations and mass killings of the Jewish populations in Lithuania and Latvia. Over 190,000 Lithuanian Jews, nearly 95% of Lithuania's pre-war Jewish community, and 66,000 Latvian Jews were murdered. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were reoccupied by the Red Army and Soviet rule was re-established, with the passive agreement of the United States and Britain (see Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement).


title: Baltic states

text: The forced collectivisation of agriculture began in 1947, and was completed after the mass deportation in March 1949 (see Operation Priboi). Private farms were confiscated, and farmers were made to join the collective farms. In all three countries, Baltic partisans, known colloquially as the Forest Brothers, Latvian national partisans, and Lithuanian partisans, waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence. The armed resistance of the anti-Soviet partisans lasted up to 1953. Although the armed resistance was defeated, the population remained anti-Soviet.


title: Baltic states

text: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were considered to be under Soviet occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, NATO, and many other countries and international organizations. During the Cold War, Lithuania and Latvia maintained legations in Washington DC, while Estonia had a mission in New York City. Each was staffed initially by diplomats from the last governments before USSR occupation.


title: Baltic states

text: In the late 1980s, a massive campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule, known as the Singing revolution, began. On 23 August 1989, the Baltic Way, a two-million-strong human chain, stretched for 600 km from Tallinn to Vilnius. In the wake of this campaign, Gorbachev's government had privately concluded that the departure of the Baltic republics had become "inevitable". This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. Troops were withdrawn from the region (starting from Lithuania) from August 1993. The last Russian troops were withdrawn from there in August 1994. Skrunda-1, the last Russian military radar in the Baltics, officially suspended operations in August 1998.


title: Baltic states

text: All three are today liberal democracies, with unicameral parliaments elected by popular vote for four-year terms: Riigikogu in Estonia, Saeima in Latvia and Seimas in Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, the president is elected by parliament, while Lithuania has a semi-presidential system whereby the president is elected by popular vote. All are part of the European Union (EU) and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).


title: Baltic states

text: Each of the three countries has declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nation that had existed from 1918 to 1940, emphasizing their contention that Soviet domination over the Baltic states during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation.


title: Baltic states

text: The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other Western democracies, who held the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union to be illegal. At least formally, most Western democracies never considered the three Baltic states to be constituent parts of the Soviet Union. Australia was a brief exception to this support of Baltic independence: in 1974, the Labor government of Australia did recognize Soviet dominion, but this decision was reversed by the next Australian Parliament. Other exceptions included Sweden, which was the first Western country, and one of the very few to ever do so, to recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union as lawful.


title: Baltic states

text: After the Baltic states had restored their independence, integration with Western Europe became a major strategic goal. In 2002, the Baltic governments applied to join the European Union and become members of NATO. All three became NATO members on 29 March 2004, and joined the EU on 1 May 2004.


title: Baltic states

text: During the Baltic struggle for independence 1989–1992, a personal friendship developed between the (at that time unrecognized) Baltic ministers of foreign affairs and the Nordic ministers of foreign affairs. This friendship led to the creation of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in 1992, and the EuroFaculty in 1993.


title: Baltic states

text: Between 1994 and 2004, the BAFTA free trade agreement was established to help prepare the countries for their accession to the EU, rather than out of the Baltic states' desire to trade among themselves. The Baltic countries were more interested in gaining access to the rest of the European market.


title: Baltic states

text: Currently, the governments of the Baltic states cooperate in multiple ways, including cooperation among presidents, parliament speakers, heads of government, and foreign ministers. On 8 November 1991, the Baltic Assembly, which includes 15 to 20 MPs from each parliament, was established to facilitate inter-parliamentary cooperation. The Baltic Council of Ministers was established on 13 June 1994 to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation. Since 2003, there is coordination between the two organizations.


title: Baltic states

text: Compared with other regional groupings in Europe, such as the Nordic Council or Visegrád Group, Baltic cooperation is rather limited. All three countries are also members of the New Hanseatic League, an informal group of northern EU states formed to advocate a common fiscal position.


title: Baltic states

text: Economically, parallel with political changes and a transition to democracy – as a rule of law states – the nations' previous command economies were transformed via the legislation into market economies, and set up or renewed the major macroeconomic factors: budgetary rules, national audit, national currency and central bank. Generally, they shortly encountered the following problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth and high government debt. The inflation rate, in the examined area, relatively quickly dropped to below 5% by 2000. Meanwhile, these economies were stabilised, and in 2004 all of them joined the European Union. New macroeconomic requirements have arisen for them; the Maastricht criteria became obligatory and later the Stability and Growth Pact set stricter rules through national legislation by implementing the regulations and directives of the Sixpack, because the financial crisis was a shocking milestone.


title: Baltic states

text: All three countries are member states of the European Union, and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are also members of the OECD.


title: Baltic states

text: Estonia adopted the euro currency in January 2011, Latvia in January 2014, and Lithuania in January 2015.


title: Baltic states

text: Usually the concept of energy security is related to the uninterruptible supply, sufficient energy storage, advanced technological development of energy sector and environmental regulations. Other studies add other indicators to this list: diversification of energy suppliers, energy import dependence and vulnerability of political system.


title: Baltic states

text: Even now being a part of the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are still considered as the most vulnerable EU member states in the energy sphere. Due to their Soviet past, Baltic states have several gas pipelines on their territories coming from Russia. Moreover, several routes of oil delivery also have been sustained from Soviet times: These are ports in Ventspils, Butinge and Tallinn. Therefore, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania play a significant role not only in consuming, but also in distribution of Russian energy fuels extracting transaction fees. So, the overall EU dependence on the Russia's energy supplies from the one hand and the need of Baltic states to import energy fuels from their closer hydrocarbon-rich neighbor creates a tension that could jeopardize the energy security of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.


title: Baltic states

text: As a part of the EU from 2004, Baltic states must comply with the EU's regulations in energy, environmental and security spheres. One of the most important documents that the EU applied to improve the energy security stance of the Baltic states are European Union climate and energy package, including the Climate and Energy Strategy 2020, that aims to reduce the greenhouse emissions to 20%, increase the energy production from renewables for 20% in overall share and 20% energy efficiency development.


title: Baltic states

text: The calculations take into account not only economic, but also technological and energy-related factors: Energy and carbon intensity of transport and households, trade balance of total energy, energy import dependency, diversification of energy mix, etc. It was stated that from 2008, Baltic states experiences a positive change in their energy security score. They diversified their oil import suppliers due to shutdown of Druzhba gas pipeline in 2006 and increased the share of renewable sources in total energy production with the help of the EU policies.


title: Baltic states

text: Estonia usually was the best performing country in terms of energy security, but new assessment shows that even though Estonia has the highest share of renewables in the energy production, its energy economy has been still characterized by high rates of carbon intensity. Lithuania, in contrast, achieved the best results on carbon intensity of economy but its energy dependence level is still very high. Latvia performed the best according to all indicators. Especially, the high share of renewables were introduced to the energy production of Latvia, that can be explained by the state's geographical location and favorable natural conditions.


title: Baltic states

text: Possible threats to energy security include, firstly, a major risk of energy supply disruption. Even if there are several electricity interconnectors that connect the area with electricity-rich states (Estonia-Finland interconnector, Lithuania-Poland interconnector, Lithuania-Sweden interconnector), the pipeline supply of natural gas and tanker supply of oil are unreliable without modernization of energy infrastructure. Secondly, the dependence on single supplier – Russia – is not healthy both for economics and politics. As it was in 2009 during the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute, when states of Eastern Europe were deprived from access to the natural gas deliveries, the reoccurrence of the situation may again lead to economic, political and social crisis. Therefore, the diversification of suppliers is needed. Finally, the low technological enhancement results in slow adaptation of new technologies, such as construction and use of renewable sources of energy. This also poses a threat to energy security of the Baltic states, because slows down the renewable energy consumption and lead to low rates of energy efficiency.


title: Baltic states

text: Estonians are Finnic people, together with the nearby Finns. The Latvians and Lithuanians, linguistically and culturally related to each other, are Baltic Indo-European people. In Latvia exists a small community of Finnic people related to the Estonians, composed of only 250 people, known as Livonians, and they live in the so-called Livonian Coast. The peoples in the Baltic states have together inhabited the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea for millennia, although not always peacefully in ancient times, over which period their populations, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian, have remained remarkably stable within the approximate territorial boundaries of the current Baltic states. While separate peoples with their own customs and traditions, historical factors have introduced cultural similarities in and differences within them.


title: Baltic states

text: The populations of each Baltic country belong to several Christian denominations, a reflection of historical circumstances. Both Western and Eastern Christianity had been introduced by the end of the first millennium. The current divide between Lutheranism to the north and Catholicism to the south is the remnant of Swedish and Polish hegemony, respectively, with Orthodox Christianity remaining the dominant religion among Russian and other East Slavic minorities.


title: Baltic states

text: The Baltic states have historically been in many different spheres of influence, from Danish over Swedish and Polish–Lithuanian, to German (Hansa and Holy Roman Empire), and before independence in the Russian sphere of influence.


title: Baltic states

text: The Baltic states are inhabited by several ethnic minorities: in Latvia: 33.0% (including 25.4% Russian, 3.3% Belarusian, 2.2% Ukrainian, and 2.1% Polish), in Estonia: 27.6% and in Lithuania: 12.2% (including 5.6% Polish and 4.5% Russian).


title: Baltic states

text: The Soviet Union conducted a policy of Russification by encouraging Russians and other Russian-speaking ethnic groups of the Soviet Union to settle in the Baltics. Today, ethnic Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union and their descendants make up a sizable particularly in Latvia (about one-quarter of the total population and close to one-half in the capital Riga) and Estonia (nearly one-quarter of the total population).


title: Baltic states

text: Because the three countries had been independent nations prior to their occupation by the Soviet Union, there was a strong feeling of national identity (often labeled "bourgeois nationalism" by the Communist Party) and popular resentment towards the imposed Soviet rule in the three countries, in combination with Soviet cultural policy, which employed superficial multiculturalism (in order for the Soviet Union to appear as a multinational union based on the free will of its peoples) in limits allowed by the communist "internationalist" (but in effect pro-Russification) ideology and under tight control of the Communist Party (those of the Baltic nationals who crossed the line were called "bourgeois nationalists" and repressed). This let Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians preserve a high degree of Europe-oriented national identity. In Soviet times this made them appear as the "West" of the Soviet Union in the cultural and political sense, thus as close to emigration a Russian could get without leaving the USSR.


title: Baltic states

text: The languages of the three Baltic peoples belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages belong to the Indo-European language family and are the only extant (widely recognized) members of the Baltic language group (or more specifically, Eastern Baltic subgroup of Baltic). Latgalian and Samogitian are considered either separate languages or dialects of Latvian and Lithuanian, respectively.


title: Baltic states

text: The Estonian language (including its divergent Võro and Seto dialects) is a Finnic language, together with neighboring Finland's Finnish language. It is also related to the now near-extinct Livonian language spoken as a second language by a few dozen people in Latvia.


title: Baltic states

text: Apart from the indigenous languages, German was the dominant language in Estonia and Latvia in academics, professional life, and upper society from the 13th century until World War I. Polish served a similar function in Lithuania. Numerous Swedish loanwords have made it into the Estonian language; it was under the Swedish rule that schools were established and education propagated in the 17th century. Swedish remains spoken in Estonia, particularly the Estonian Swedish dialect of the Estonian Swedes of northern Estonia and the islands (though many fled to Sweden as the USSR invaded and re-occupied Estonia in 1944). There is also significant proficiency in Finnish in Estonia owing to its linguistic relationship with Estonian and also widespread exposure to Finnish broadcasts during the Soviet era.


title: Baltic states

text: Russian was the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling during the period of Soviet rule in 1944–1991. Despite schooling available and administration conducted in local languages, Russian-speaking settlers were neither encouraged nor motivated to learn the official local languages, so knowledge of some Russian became a practical necessity in daily life in Russian-dominated urban areas. Even to this day, most of the three countries' adult population can understand and speak some Russian, especially so the elderly people who went to school during the Soviet rule.


title: Baltic states

text: Since the decline of Russian influence and integration into the European Union economy, English has become the most popular second language in the Baltic states. Although Russian is more widely spoken among older people the vast majority of young people are learning English instead with as many as 80 percent of young Lithuanians professing English proficiency, and similar trends in the other Baltic states.


title: Baltic states

text: The term "Baltic" stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to at least 3rd century B.C. (when Erastothenes mentioned in an Ancient Greek text) and possibly earlier. There are several theories about its origin, most of which trace it to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root "*bhel" meaning 'white, fair'. This meaning is retained in the two modern Baltic languages, where in Lithuanian and in Latvian mean 'white'. However, the modern names of the region and the sea that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century.


title: Baltic states

text: Since the Middle Ages, the Baltic Sea has appeared on maps in Germanic languages as the equivalent of 'East Sea': , , , , etc. Indeed, the Baltic Sea lies mostly to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The term was also used historically to refer to Baltic Dominions of the Swedish Empire () and, subsequently, the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire (). Terms related to modern name "Baltic" appear in ancient texts, but had fallen into disuse until reappearing as the adjective in German, from which it was adopted in other languages. During the 19th century, "Baltic" started to supersede as the name for the region. Officially, its Russian equivalent () was first used in 1859. This change was a result of the Baltic German elite adopting terms derived from to refer to themselves.


title: Baltic states

text: The term "Baltic countries" (or "lands", or "states") was, until the early 20th century, used in the context of countries neighbouring the Baltic Sea: Sweden and Denmark, sometimes also Germany and the Russian Empire. With the advent of Foreningen Norden (the Nordic Associations), the term was no longer used for Sweden and Denmark. After World War I, the new sovereign states that emerged on the east coast of the Baltic Sea – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland – became known as the "Baltic states". Since World War II the term has typically been used to group the three countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.


title: Baltic states

text: All three unitary republics, which simultaneously joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, share EET/EEST time zone schedules and the euro currency.


title: Baal

text: Baal (), or Baal, ( "baʿal") was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities but inscriptions have shown that the name Ba'al was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations.


title: Baal

text: The Hebrew Bible includes use of the term in reference to various Levantine deities, often with application towards Hadad, who was decried as a false god. That use was taken over into Christianity and Islam, sometimes under the form Beelzebub in demonology.


title: Baal

text: The spelling of the English term "Baal" derives from the Greek "Báal" ( which appears in the New Testament and Septuagint, and from its Latinized form "", which appears in the Vulgate. These forms in turn derive from the vowel-less Northwest Semitic form (Phoenician and ). The word's biblical senses as a Phoenician deity and false gods generally were extended during the Protestant Reformation to denote any idols, icons of the saints, or the Catholic Church generally. In such contexts, it follows the anglicized pronunciation and usually omits any mark between its two As. In close transliteration of the Semitic name, the ayin is represented, as "Baʿal".


title: Baal

text: In the Northwest Semitic languages—Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Amorite, and Aramaic—the word "baʿal" signified "owner" and, by extension, "lord", a "master", or "husband".


title: Baal

text: Cognates include the Akkadian "Bēlu" (), Amharic "bal" (), and Arabic "baʿl" (). "Báʿal" () and "baʿl" still serve as the words for "husband" in modern Hebrew and Arabic respectively. They also appear in some contexts concerning the ownership of things or possession of traits.


title: Baal

text: The feminine form is "baʿalah" (; ), meaning "mistress" in the sense of a female owner or lady of the house and still serving as a rare word for "wife".


title: Baal

text: Suggestions in early modern scholarship also included comparison with the Celtic god Belenus, however this is now widely rejected by contemporary scholars.


title: Baal

text: Like En in Sumerian, the Akkadian "bēlu" and Northwest Semitic "baʿal" (as well as its feminine form "baʿalah") was used as a title of various deities in the Mesopotamian and Semitic pantheons. Only a definitive article, genitive or epithet, or context could establish which particular god was meant.


title: Baal

text: Baʿal was also used as a proper name by the third millennium BCE, when he appears in a list of deities at Abu Salabikh. Most modern scholarship asserts that this Baʿal—usually distinguished as "The Lord" (, "Ha Baʿal")—was identical with the storm and fertility god Hadad; it also appears in the form "Baʿal Haddu". Scholars propose that, as the cult of Hadad increased in importance, his true name came to be seen as too holy for any but the high priest to speak aloud and the alias "Lord" ("Baʿal") was used instead, as "Bel" was used for Marduk among the Babylonians and "Adonai" for Yahweh among the Israelites. A minority propose that Baʿal was a native Canaanite deity whose cult was identified with or absorbed aspects of Adad's. Regardless of their original relationship, by the 1st millennium BCE, the two were distinct: Hadad was worshipped by the Aramaeans and Baʿal by the Phoenicians and other Canaanites.


title: Baal

text: Baʿal is well-attested in surviving inscriptions and was popular in theophoric names throughout the Levant but he is usually mentioned along with other gods, "his own field of action being seldom defined". Nonetheless, Ugaritic records show him as a weather god, with particular power over lightning, wind, rain, and fertility. The dry summers of the area were explained as Baʿal's time in the underworld and his return in autumn was said to cause the storms which revived the land. Thus, the worship of Baʿal in Canaan—where he eventually supplanted El as the leader of the gods and patron of kingship—was connected to the regions' dependence on rainfall for its agriculture, unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, which focused on irrigation from their major rivers. Anxiety about the availability of water for crops and trees increased the importance of his cult, which focused attention on his role as a rain god. He was also called upon during battle, showing that he was thought to intervene actively in the world of man, unlike the more aloof El. The Lebanese city of Baalbeck was named after Baal.


title: Baal

text: The Baʿal of Ugarit was the epithet of Hadad but as the time passed, the epithet became the god's name while Hadad became the epithet. Baʿal was usually said to be the son of Dagan, but appears as one of the sons of El in Ugaritic sources. Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility. He held special enmity against snakes, both on their own and as representatives of Yammu ( "Sea"), the Canaanite sea god and river god. He fought the Tannin ("Tunnanu"), the "Twisted Serpent" ("Bṭn ʿqltn"), "Lotan the Fugitive Serpent" ("Ltn Bṭn Brḥ", the biblical Leviathan), and the "Mighty One with Seven Heads" ("Šlyṭ D.šbʿt Rašm"). Baʿal's conflict with Yammu is now generally regarded as the prototype of the vision recorded in the 7th chapter of the biblical Book of Daniel. As vanquisher of the sea, Baʿal was regarded by the Canaanites and Phoenicians as the patron of sailors and sea-going merchants. As vanquisher of Mot, the Canaanite death god, he was known as Baʿal Rāpiʾuma ("Bʿl Rpu") and regarded as the leader of the Rephaim ("Rpum"), the ancestral spirits, particularly those of ruling dynasties.


title: Baal

text: From Canaan, worship of Baʿal spread to Egypt by the Middle Kingdom and throughout the Mediterranean following the waves of Phoenician colonization in the early 1st millennium BCE. He was described with diverse epithets and, before Ugarit was rediscovered, it was supposed that these referred to distinct local gods. However, as explained by Day, the texts at Ugarit revealed that they were considered "local manifestations of this particular deity, analogous to the local manifestations of the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church". In those inscriptions, he is frequently described as "Victorious Baʿal" ("Aliyn" or "ẢlỈyn Baʿal"), "Mightiest one" ("Aliy" or "ʿAly") or "Mightiest of the Heroes" ("Aliy Qrdm"), "The Powerful One" ("Dmrn"), and in his role as patron of the city "Baʿal of Ugarit" ("Baʿal Ugarit"). As Baʿal Zaphon ("Baʿal Ṣapunu"), he was particularly associated with his palace atop Jebel Aqra (the ancient Mount Ṣapānu and classical Mons Casius). He is also mentioned as "Winged Baʿal" ("Bʿl Knp") and "Baʿal of the Arrows" ("Bʿl Ḥẓ"). Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions describe "Bʿl Krntryš", "Baʿal of the Lebanon" ("Bʿl Lbnn"), "Baʿal of Sidon" ("Bʿl Ṣdn"), "Bʿl Ṣmd", "Baʿal of the Heavens" ("Baʿal Shamem" or "Shamayin"), Baʿal ʾAddir ("Bʿl ʾdr"), Baʿal Hammon ("Baʿal Ḥamon"), "Bʿl Mgnm".


title: Baal

text: Baʿal Hammon was worshipped in the Tyrian colony of Carthage as their supreme god. It is believed that this position developed in the 5th century BCE following the severing of its ties to Tyre following the 480 BCE Battle of Himera. Like Hadad, Baʿal Hammon was a fertility god. Inscriptions about Punic deities tend to be rather uninformative, though, and he has been variously identified as a moon god and as Dagan, the grain god. Rather than the bull, Baʿal Hammon was associated with the ram and depicted with his horns. The archaeological record seems to bear out accusations in Roman sources that the Carthaginians burned their children as human sacrifices to him. He was worshipped as Baʿal Karnaim ("Lord of the Two Horns"), particularly at an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Bu Kornein ("Two-Horn Hill") across the bay from Carthage. His consort was the goddess Tanit.


title: Baal

text: The epithet Hammon is obscure. Most often, it is connected with the NW Semitic "ḥammān" ("brazier") and associated with a role as a sun god. Renan and Gibson linked it to Hammon (modern Umm el-‘Amed between Tyre in Lebanon and Acre in Israel) and Cross and Lipiński to Haman or Khamōn, the classical Mount Amanus and modern Nur Mountains, which separate northern Syria from southeastern Cilicia.


title: Baal

text: Baʿal (בַּעַל) appears about 90 times in the Hebrew Bible in reference to various gods. The priests of the Canaanite Baʿal are mentioned numerous times, most prominently in the First Book of Kings. Many scholars believe that this describes Jezebel's attempt to introduce the worship of the Baʿal of Tyre, Melqart, to the Israelite capital Samaria in the 9th century BCE. Against this, Day argues that Jezebel's Baʿal was more probably Baʿal Shamem, the Lord of the Heavens, a title most often applied to Hadad, who is also often titled just Ba‘al.


title: Baal

text: 1 Kings 18 records an account of a contest between the prophet Elijah and Jezebel's priests. Both sides offered a sacrifice to their respective gods: Ba'al failed to light his followers' sacrifice while Yahweh's heavenly fire burnt Elijah's altar to ashes, even after it had been soaked with water. The observers then followed Elijah's instructions to slay the priests of Baʿal, after which it began to rain, showing Yahweh's mastery over the weather.


title: Baal

text: Other references to the priests of Baʿal describe their burning of incense in prayer and their offering of sacrifice while adorned in special vestments.


title: Baal

text: The title "baʿal" was a synonym in some contexts of the Hebrew "adon" ("Lord") and "adonai" ("My Lord") still used as aliases of the Lord of Israel Yahweh. According to some scholars, the early Hebrews did use the names Baʿal ("Lord") and Baʿali ("My Lord") in reference to the Lord of Israel, just as Baʿal farther north designated the Lord of Ugarit or Lebanon. This occurred both directly and as the divine element of some Hebrew theophoric names. However, according to others it is not certain that the name Baal was definitely applied to Yahweh in early Israelite history. The component Baal in proper names is mostly applied to worshippers of Baal, or descendants of the worshippers of Baal. Names including the element Baʿal presumably in reference to Yahweh include the judge Gideon (also known as Jerubaʿal,  "The Lord Strives"), Saul's son Eshbaʿal ("The Lord is Great"), and David's son Beeliada ("The Lord Knows"). The name Bealiah ("The Lord is Jah"; "Yahweh is Baʿal") combined the two. However John Day states that as far as the names Eshba’al, Meriba’al, and Beeliada (that is Baaliada), are concerned it is not certain whether they simply allude to the Canaanite god Ba’al, or are intended to equate Yahweh with Ba’al, or have no connection to Ba’al.


title: Baal

text: It was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century BCE, to introduce into Israel's capital city of Samaria her Phoenician worship of Baal as opposed to the worship of Yahweh that made the name anathema to the Israelites.


title: Baal

text: Brad E. Kelle has suggested that references to cultic sexual practices in the worship of Baal, in Hosea 2, are evidence of an historical situation in which Israelites were either giving up Yahweh worship for Baal, or blending the two. Hosea's references to sexual acts being metaphors for Israelite "apostasy".


title: Baal

text: Baʿal Berith ("Lord of the Covenant") was a god worshipped by the Israelites when they "went astray" after the death of Gideon according to the Hebrew Scriptures. The same source relates that Gideon's son Abimelech went to his mother's kin at Shechem and received 70 shekels of silver "from the House of Baʿal Berith" to assist in killing his 70 brothers from Gideon's other wives. An earlier passage had made Shechem the scene of Joshua's covenant between all the tribes of Israel and "El Yahweh, our god of Israel" and a later one describes it as the location of the "House of El Berith". It is thus unclear whether the false worship of the "Baʿalim" being decried is the worship of a new idol or rites and teachings placing Yahweh as a mere local god within a larger pantheon. The Hebrew Scriptures record the worship of Baʿal threatening Israel from the time of the Judges until the monarchy. The Deuteronomist and the present form of Jeremiah seem to phrase the struggle as monolatry or monotheism against polytheism. Yahweh is frequently identified in the Hebrew scriptures with El Elyon, however, this was after a conflation with El in a process of religious syncretism. "’El" () became a generic term meaning "god", as opposed to the name of a worshipped deity, and epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone, while Baal's nature as a storm and weather god became assimilated into Yahweh's own identification with the storm. In the next stage the Yahwistic religion separated itself from its Canaanite heritage, first by rejecting Baal-worship in the 9th century, then through the 8th to 6th centuries with prophetic condemnation of Baal, sun-worship, worship on the "high places", practices pertaining to the dead, and other matters.


title: Baal

text: Baʿal Zebub (,  "Fly Lord") occurs in the first chapter of the Second Book of Kings as the name of the Philistine god of Ekron. In it, Ahaziah, king of Israel, is said to have consulted the priests of Baʿal Zebub as to whether he would survive the injuries from his recent fall. The prophet Elijah, incensed at this impiety, then foretold that he would die quickly, raining heavenly fire on the soldiers sent to punish him for doing so. Jewish scholars have interpreted the title of "Lord of the Flies" as the Hebrew way of calling Baʿal a pile of dung and his followers vermin, although others argue for a link to power over causing and curing pestilence and thus suitable for Ahaziah's question. The Septuagint renders the name as "Baälzeboúb" () and as "Baʿal of Flies" (, "Baäl muian"). Symmachus the Ebionite rendered it as "Beëlzeboúl" (), possibly reflecting its original sense. This has been proposed to have been "B‘l Zbl", Ugaritic for "Prince Baal".


title: Baal

text: Outside of Jewish and Christian contexts, the various forms of Baʿal were indifferently rendered in classical sources as Belus (, "Bē̂los"). An example is Josephus, who states that Jezebel "built a temple to the god of the Tyrians, which they call Belus"; this describes the Baʿal of Tyre, Melqart. Herrmann identifies the Demarus/Demarous figure mentioned by Philo Byblius as Baʿal.


title: Baal

text: Baʿal Hammon, however, was identified with the Greek Cronos and the Roman Saturn as the Zabul Saturn. He was probably never equated with Melqart, although this assertion appears in older scholarship.


title: Baal

text: Beelzebub or Beelzebul was identified by the writers of the New Testament as Satan, "prince" (i.e., king) of the demons.


title: Baal

text: John Milton's 1667 epic "Paradise Lost" describes the fallen angels collecting around Satan, stating that, though their heavenly names had been "blotted out and ras'd", they would acquire new ones "wandring ore the Earth" as false gods. "Baalim" and "Ashtaroth" are given as the collective names of the male and female demons (respectively) who came from between the "bordering flood of old Euphrates" and "the Brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground".


title: Baal

text: "Baal" and derived epithets like "Baalist" were used as slurs during the English Reformation for the saints and their devotees.


title: Baal

text: According to Tabari, "baal" is a term used by Arabs to denote everything which is a "lord" over anything.


title: Baal

text: Al-Thaʿlabī offers a more detailed description about Baal; accordingly it was an idol of gold, twenty cubits tall, and had four faces.


title: Sugar

text: Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), and maltose (two molecules of glucose). White sugar is a refined form of sucrose. In the body, compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars.


title: Sugar

text: Longer chains of monosaccharides (>2) are not regarded as sugars, and are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Starch is a glucose polymer found in plants, the most abundant source of energy in human food. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol and sugar alcohols, may have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugar.


title: Sugar

text: Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants. Honey and fruits are abundant natural sources of simple sugars. Sucrose is especially concentrated in sugarcane and sugar beet, making them ideal for efficient commercial extraction to make refined sugar. In 2016, the combined world production of those two crops was about two billion tonnes. Maltose may be produced by malting grain. Lactose is the only sugar that cannot be extracted from plants. It can only be found in milk, including human breast milk, and in some dairy products. A cheap source of sugar is corn syrup, industrially produced by converting corn starch into sugars, such as maltose, fructose and glucose.


title: Sugar

text: Sucrose is used in prepared foods (e.g. cookies and cakes), is sometimes added to commercially available processed food and beverages, and may be used by people as a sweetener for foods (e.g. toast and cereal) and beverages (e.g. coffee and tea). The average person consumes about of sugar each year, with North and South Americans consuming up to and Africans consuming under .


title: Sugar

text: As sugar consumption grew in the latter part of the 20th century, researchers began to examine whether a diet high in sugar, especially refined sugar, was damaging to human health. Excessive consumption of sugar has been implicated in the onset of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and tooth decay. Numerous studies have tried to clarify those implications, but with varying results, mainly because of the difficulty of finding populations for use as controls that consume little or no sugar. In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended that adults and children reduce their intake of free sugars to less than 10%, and encouraged a reduction to below 5%, of their total energy intake.


title: Sugar

text: The etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. From Sanskrit ("śarkarā"), meaning "ground or candied sugar", came Persian "shakar", then to 12th century French "sucre" and the English "sugar".


title: Sugar

text: The English word "jaggery", a coarse brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin: Portuguese "jágara" from the Malayalam "cakkarā", which is from the Sanskrit "śarkarā".


title: Sugar

text: Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and its cultivation spread from there into modern-day Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. It was not plentiful or cheap in early times, and in most parts of the world, honey was more often used for sweetening. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Even after refined sugarcane became more widely available during the colonial era, palm sugar was preferred in Java and other sugar producing parts of southeast Asia, and along with coconut sugar, is still used locally to make desserts today.


title: Sugar

text: Sugarcane is native of tropical areas such as the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with "Saccharum barberi" originating in India and "S. edule" and "S. officinarum" coming from New Guinea. One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating to 8th century BCE, which state that the use of sugarcane originated in India.


title: Sugar

text: In the tradition of Indian medicine (āyurveda), the sugarcane is known by the name "Ikṣu" and the sugarcane juice is known as "Phāṇita". Its varieties, synonyms and characteristics are defined in nighaṇṭus such as the Bhāvaprakāśa (1.6.23, group of sugarcanes).


title: Sugar

text: Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store and to transport. Crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century CE. In the local Indian language, these crystals were called "khanda" (Devanagari: खण्ड, ), which is the source of the word "candy". Indian sailors, who carried clarified butter and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar along the various trade routes they travelled. Traveling Buddhist monks took sugar crystallization methods to China. During the reign of Harsha (r. 606–647) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649) made known his interest in sugar. China established its first sugarcane plantations in the seventh century. Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, to obtain technology for sugar refining. In the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and China, sugar became a staple of cooking and desserts.


title: Sugar

text: Nearchus, admiral of Alexander of Macedonia, knew of sugar during the year 325 BC, because of his participation in the campaign of India led by Alexander ("Arrian, Anabasis"). The Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century CE described sugar in his medical treatise De Materia Medica, and Pliny the Elder, a 1st-century CE Roman, described sugar in his Natural History: "Sugar is made in Arabia as well, but Indian sugar is better. It is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut. Sugar is used only for medical purposes." Crusaders brought sugar back to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying "sweet salt". Early in the 12th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe. It supplemented the use of honey, which had previously been the only available sweetener. Crusade chronicler William of Tyre, writing in the late 12th century, described sugar as "very necessary for the use and health of mankind". In the 15th century, Venice was the chief sugar refining and distribution center in Europe.


title: Sugar

text: There was a drastic change in the mid-15th century, when São Tomé, Madeira, and the Canary Islands were settled from Europe, and sugar grown there. After this an "all-consuming passion for sugar ... swept through society" as it became far more easily available, though initially still very expensive. By 1492, Madeira was producing over of sugar annually. Genoa, one of the centers of distribution, became known for candied fruit, while Venice specialized in pastries, sweets (candies), and sugar sculptures. Sugar was considered to have "valuable medicinal properties" as a "warm" food under prevailing categories, being "helpful to the stomach, to cure cold diseases, and sooth lung complaints".


title: Sugar

text: A feast given in Tours in 1457 by Gaston de Foix, which is "probably the best and most complete account we have of a late medieval banquet" includes the first mention of sugar sculptures, as the final food brought in was "a heraldic menagerie sculpted in sugar: lions, stags, monkeys ... each holding in paw or beak the arms of the Hungarian king". Other recorded grand feasts in the decades following included similar pieces. Originally the sculptures seem to have been eaten in the meal, but later they become merely table decorations, the most elaborate called "triomfi". Several significant sculptors are known to have produced them; in some cases their preliminary drawings survive. Early ones were in brown sugar, partly cast in molds, with the final touches carved. They continued to be used until at least the Coronation Banquet for Edward VII of the United Kingdom in 1903; among other sculptures every guest was given a sugar crown to take away.


title: Sugar

text: In August 1492, Christopher Columbus collected sugar cane samples in La Gomera in the Canary Islands, and introduced it to the New World. The cuttings were planted and the first sugar-cane harvest in Hispaniola took place in 1501. Many sugar mills had been constructed in Cuba and Jamaica by the 1520s. The Portuguese took sugar cane to Brazil. By 1540, there were 800 cane-sugar mills in Santa Catarina Island and another 2,000 on the north coast of Brazil, Demarara, and Surinam. It took until 1600 for Brazilian sugar production to exceed that of São Tomé, which was the main center of sugar production in sixteenth century.


title: Sugar

text: Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the early 19th century, when it became more widely available, due to the rise of beet sugar in Prussia, and later in France under Napoleon. Beet sugar was a German invention, since, in 1747, Andreas Sigismund Marggraf announced the discovery of sugar in beets and devised a method using alcohol to extract it. Marggraf's student, Franz Karl Achard, devised an economical industrial method to extract the sugar in its pure form in the late 18th century. Achard first produced beet sugar in 1783 in Kaulsdorf, and in 1801, the world's first beet sugar production facility was established in Cunern, Silesia (then part of Prussia, now Poland). The works of Marggraf and Achard were the starting point for the sugar industry in Europe, and for the modern sugar industry in general, since sugar was no longer a luxury product and a product almost only produced in warmer climates.


title: Sugar

text: Sugar became highly popular and by the 19th century, was found in every household. This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient resulted in major economic and social changes. Demand drove, in part, the colonization of tropical islands and areas where labor-intensive sugarcane plantations and sugar manufacturing facilities could be successful. World consumption increased more than 100 times from 1850 to 2000, led by Britain, where it increased from about 2 pounds per head per year in 1650 to 90 pounds by the early 20th century. In the late 18th century Britain consumed about half the sugar which reached Europe.


title: Sugar

text: After slavery was abolished, the demand for workers in European colonies in the Caribbean was filled by indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent. Millions of enslaved or indentured laborers were brought to various European colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia (as a result of demand in Europe for among other commodities, sugar), influencing the ethnic mixture of numerous nations around the globe.


title: Sugar

text: Sugar also led to some industrialization of areas where sugar cane was grown. For example, in the 1790s Lieutenant J. Paterson, of the Bengal Presidency promoted to the British parliament the idea that sugar cane could grow in British India, where it had started, with many advantages and at less expense than in the West Indies. As a result, sugar factories were established in Bihar in eastern India.


title: Sugar

text: During the Napoleonic Wars, sugar-beet production increased in continental Europe because of the difficulty of importing sugar when shipping was subject to blockade. By 1880 the sugar beet was the main source of sugar in Europe. It was also cultivated in Lincolnshire and other parts of England, although the United Kingdom continued to import the main part of its sugar from its colonies.


title: Sugar

text: Until the late nineteenth century, sugar was purchased in loaves, which had to be cut using implements called sugar nips. In later years, granulated sugar was more usually sold in bags. Sugar cubes were produced in the nineteenth century. The first inventor of a process to produce sugar in cube form was Jakob Christof Rad, director of a sugar refinery in Dačice. In 1841, he produced the first sugar cube in the world. He began sugar-cube production after being granted a five-year patent for the process on 23 January 1843. Henry Tate of Tate & Lyle was another early manufacturer of sugar cubes at his refineries in Liverpool and London. Tate purchased a patent for sugar-cube manufacture from German Eugen Langen, who in 1872 had invented a different method of processing of sugar cubes.


title: Sugar

text: Sugar was rationed during World War I, though it was said that "No previous war in history has been fought so largely on sugar and so little on alcohol", and more sharply during World War II. Rationing led to the development and use of various artificial sweeteners.


title: Sugar

text: Scientifically, "sugar" loosely refers to a number of carbohydrates, such as monosaccharides, disaccharides, or oligosaccharides. Monosaccharides are also called "simple sugars", the most important being glucose. Most monosaccharides have a formula that conforms to with n between 3 and 7 (deoxyribose being an exception). Glucose has the molecular formula . The names of typical sugars end with -"ose", as in "glucose" and "fructose". Sometimes such words may also refer to any types of carbohydrates soluble in water. The acyclic mono- and disaccharides contain either aldehyde groups or ketone groups. These carbon-oxygen double bonds (C=O) are the reactive centers. All saccharides with more than one ring in their structure result from two or more monosaccharides joined by glycosidic bonds with the resultant loss of a molecule of water () per bond.