The Beatles’ psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine turns 50 this year, and in addition to a planned theatrical re-release, the story is now being turned into a graphic novel.

Bill Morrison, an artist who's worked on Simpsons comics, "re-tells the story of the cheerful, music-loving underwater world Pepperland's invasion by the marauding, music-hating Blue Meanies, who turn the citizens into statues by shooting arrows that drop green apples on their heads while imprisoning Pepperland's guardians, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in a soundproof globe," reports Billboard.

A new trailer for the book, which comes out Aug. 28, suggests that it hews pretty closely to the film's look and sensibility.

Pandora launches personalized playlists

Pandora has launched a new feature for premium subscribers: personalized playlists with themes like "focus" and "energy," informed by the music each listener has streamed in the past. It's an attempt to compete with Spotify's popular personalized playlists like Discover Weekly and Daily Mix.

"We're taking the guesswork out of the age-old question, 'What do I want to listen to?' by catering to your genre-bending music personalities and giving you access to the best soundtrack tuned to the moment you're in," says Pandora's Chris Phillips, who promises that more "themes and moods" will be available in coming months. (Billboard)

Ariana Grande makes statement about Mac Miller breakup

Ariana Grande has responded to comments from fans who find it poignant that rapper Mac Miller was charged with drunk driving shortly after the former couple broke up. One widely-shared tweet called the situation "heartbreaking" and said that Miller's recent album had him "pouring his heart out" to Grande. (Pitchfork)

Recently, Grande has been reportedly dating Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson. (Cosmopolitan)

Lily Allen talks about personal and musical transition

Lily Allen has announced a new album: No Shame will be released June 9. It marks a decided transition from her 2014 album Sheezus, a mixed success both critically and commercially. "I felt like I needed to be a pop star to pay my bills, and I didn't feel like that, so I did what I thought pop stars should do, and it was very wrong," she tells Stereogum.

Since releasing Sheezus, Allen has endured a scary attack in her home by a stalker and has also ended the marriage that inspired songs of domestic contentment on Sheezus. She says she's also read up on intersectional feminism after being attacked for dancing with twerking women of color in the "Hard Out Here" video, which some took to be appropriative. (Stereogum)

McDonald's caught in controversy over purple Big Mac eater

McDonald's is under fire from Prince fans after releasing a TV ad in South Africa that shows a Prince-like character getting ready to chow down on a Big Mac. As fans note, Prince in his later years was an avowed vegetarian.

A complaint brought the ad before an industry watchdog group, which scoffed at the fast food chain's claims that the ad wasn't really about Prince — but found that it was still okay to have a guy dressed like him, since the ad didn't imply that Prince himself was actually endorsing the product. (The Current)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVtusK4jdHU