Category Archives: Pop and rock

Coldplay perform Iranian protest song Baraye by arrested singer

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British band joined on stage by exiled actor Golshifteh Farahani to sing protest song by Shervin Hajipour as Buenos Aires concert broadcast in 81 countries

An Iranian protest anthem that has become the soundtrack to the national uprising was again thrust into the international spotlight over the weekend when Coldplay performed a cover and broadcast it live around the world.

The British band played the song, Baraye, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday and Saturday night at the start of their world tour, with the exiled Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani on stage and singing in Farsi.

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BTS members to do military service in South Korea

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Announcement ends long debate over whether K-pop group should get exemption

The seven members of BTS – one of the world’s biggest bands – will perform military service in their native South Korea, their agency has said, ending a long national debate over whether they should receive an exemption.

While many fans of the K-pop sensations were hoping the band members would be given special consideration due to their contribution to the South Korean economy and international prestige, the artists will each serve almost two years in the military.

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Kanye West: bank JP Morgan Chase cuts ties with rapper

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The decision to end the relationship with West and clothing brand Yeezy predates recent controversies and array of antisemitic comments

The US bank JP Morgan Chase has ended its relationship with Kanye West and his clothing brand Yeezy Inc – although the decision predates the rapper and designer’s recent controversies in which he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and shared racist conspiracy theories in an unaired interview.

Candace Owens, the conservative US commentator whom West has associated with in recent years, shared a letter from the bank, dated 20 September, on Twitter.

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Aria awards 2022: Rüfüs Du Sol and Amyl and the Sniffers among top nominees

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Dance group leads with seven nominations, with Flume, the Kid Laroi, Baker Boy and Vance Joy also winning multiple nods

Rüfüs Du Sol has dominated the 2022 Aria award nominations, featuring in a total of seven categories, followed by Amyl and the Sniffers and Flume.

The Sydney electronic trio’s latest album, Surrender, continues to pay dividends for the band, who won best group and best dance song for their track Alive at last year’s Arias. Alive also won them best dance song at this year’s Grammy awards.

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John Farnham cracking jokes with nurses after mouth cancer surgery, sons say

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Singer, 73, is focused on getting better after 12-hour operation in August to remove cancerous growth, sons Robert and James say in TV interview

The Australian singing legend John Farnham is on the long road to recovery after his life-saving cancer surgery, his sons say.

The 73-year-old underwent a 12-hour operation in August to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

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Sam Fender cancels shows to look after his mental health

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Singer-songwriter apologises to fans in announcement on Instagram after becoming ‘burnt out’ from touring

Sam Fender has cancelled a number of forthcoming shows and announced he is “taking some time off the road” to look after his mental health, after admitting that he was “burnt out” from touring.

The 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Newcastle posted the announcement on Instagram, saying it would be “completely hypocritical” of him to advocate for discussion of the topic without looking after his own mental wellbeing.

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Lewis Capaldi reveals Tourette syndrome diagnosis: ‘It’s something I am living with’

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The 25-year-old Scottish singer has been treating the condition with botox injections and says that he is ‘learning new ways to cope all the time’

Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. The 25-year-old star, who broke out with the chart-topping 2018 single Someone You Loved, said on Instagram Live that the diagnosis “makes so much sense”: “When I look back at my interviews from 2018, I can see that I’m doing it,” he said.

The singer said that he chose to go public with the diagnosis because he “didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,” and noted that he had initially thought it was “some horrible degenerative disease” before he was properly diagnosed. “My shoulder twitches when I am excited, happy, nervous or stressed,” he said. “It is something I am living with.”

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Nirvana win lawsuit over Nevermind baby album cover

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A US judge has dismissed Spencer Elden’s claim that an image of him as a naked baby on the 1991 album constituted child sexual abuse

Spencer Elden, who appeared on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind as a baby, has lost his lawsuit claiming that the image constituted child sexual abuse.

In the suit Elden claimed that the album cover, which depicts him at four months old and was taken by a family friend, had caused him “permanent harm” and a “lifelong loss of income-earning capacity”.

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Taylor Swift announces new album, Midnights, to be released in October

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The 32-year-old singer used her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to reveal her 10th studio album is on the way

Taylor Swift has announced she is releasing a new album, Midnights, in October.

While receiving the top honour at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards, the 32-year-old singer used her acceptance speech to announce her 10th studio album would come out on 21 October.

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John Farnham recovering in ICU after mouth cancer removed in surgery, singer’s family reveals

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Veteran Australian hitmaker is in a stable condition in hospital after surgery for almost 12 hours as doctors worked to successfully remove a cancer tumour from his mouth

The veteran Australian singer John Farnham is recovering in hospital after undergoing almost 12 hours of surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Farham’s wife, Jill, and sons Rob and James said the singer was in a stable condition.

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Svika Pick, Israel’s ‘king of pop’, dies aged 72

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Songwriter behind hits including 1998 Eurovision winner, and Quentin Tarantino’s father-in-law, dies at home

Svika Pick, a prolific songwriter and musician who was known as Israel’s “king of pop” and by the moniker the Maestro, has died at the age of 72.

He died on Sunday in his home. The cause of death is yet to be announced.

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Taylor Swift files in Shake It Off copyright lawsuit: ‘The lyrics were written entirely by me’

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Singer had been sued by writers of 3LW’s 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play for alleged plagiarism, and the case is due to return to court

Taylor Swift has defended herself as the sole writer of her 2014 hit Shake It Off in response to a lawsuit claiming that she plagiarised lyrics from the 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play by girl group 3LW.

“The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” Swift stated in a sworn declaration filed on Monday. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”

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Archie Roach, Australian songman and voice of the stolen generations, dies aged 66

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Tributes pour in for musician whose song Took the Children Away became the anthem of the stolen generations

Archie Roach, the Indigenous Australian songwriter whose celebrated song Took the Children Away brought national attention to the story of the stolen generations, has died aged 66.

Roach died at Warrnambool Base hospital after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

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Horror at Hong Kong boyband concert as huge video screen falls on to performers

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Two dancers injured as suspended LED screen crashes down on to stage during show by Cantopop band Mirror

Two dancers have been injured at a Cantopop concert in Hong Kong after a massive video screen suspended above the stage fell on to performers below.

The concert on Thursday, by Cantopop boyband Mirror, was the fourth of a series of 12 scheduled concerts by the band held at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

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Schlager louts? Row erupts over ‘sexist’ pop hit in Germany

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Town festival authorities refuse to play chart-topping Layla by DJ Robin & Schürze, prompting complaints of censorship

They are loud in volume, unsophisticated in tune and often offensively bawdy in content. With titles ranging from Sex With a Bavarian to Big Tits Potato Salad, the ballermann sub-genre of schlager pop is a big hit in German-dominated nightclubs on the Balearic island of Mallorca, but is more likely to elicit winces of embarrassment or Fremdschämen at home.

Yet this week German newspapers have been filled with detailed analysis of schlager song lyrics, and even the country’s justice minister felt inclined to share his musical taste after a Bavarian city decided to banish this holiday season’s ballermann hit from its beer halls for its sexist tendencies.

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Carlos Santana recovers after onstage collapse in Detroit

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74-year-old guitarist says he ‘forgot to eat and drink water so dehydrated and passed out’

The US guitarist Carlos Santana has recovered after collapsing on stage during a concert in suburban Detroit on Tuesday.

The audience was reportedly initially told of a serious medical issue and asked to pray for the 74-year-old musician, but Santana was treated swiftly and was seen waving to fans as he was wheeled off stage. He was taken to a local hospital for observation.

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Britney Spears’ ex-husband given restraining order after crashing wedding

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Jason Alexander pleads not guilty to charges of stalking, trespassing, battery and vandalism

Britney Spears’ ex-husband Jason Alexander has been charged with stalking her, after he appeared unannounced at her wedding last week.

After streaming a video live on his Instagram at the wedding venue, in which he claimed that Spears had invited him and said “I’m here to crash the wedding”, Alexander was confronted by security guards, arrested and taken to a local jail. Spears’ wedding to Sam Asghari, her third husband, went ahead.

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‘I had imposter syndrome’: Taylor Swift talks becoming a director

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At a Tribeca film festival event, the singer discussed directing the short All Too Well as well as the difficult time she went through over control of her music

Lines of young fans stretch down Broadway. Selfies aplenty snapped in a crowded lobby. Wild cheers as anticipation built inside, followed by intermittent shrieks during an opening speech from Tribeca film festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. A short film screening that morphed into a pop concert, complete with sing-along.

It’s safe to say this wasn’t your standard film festival event. But what else do you expect when the festival, now in its 20th year, decided to trot out the newly-minted Dr Taylor Swift to muse about film-making in honor of her music video-slash-short film aptly dubbed All Too Well: The Short Film? Released in November and directed by Swift herself, it fit like a glove into the festival as production partly took place in the actual Tribeca neighborhood in New York.

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‘I won’t believe humans any more’: Johnny Depp releases self-penned ballad lamenting fame

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New single This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr is a ballad about the difficulties of film stardom, taken from Depp’s forthcoming album with Jeff Beck

Johnny Depp has released a new self-penned song performed with Jeff Beck, This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, taken from the pair’s forthcoming collaborative album, entitled 18.

A trudging rock ballad sung by Depp interspersed with solo vocals from Beck, it hymns the 1940s film star (and innovative electrical engineer) Hedy Lamarr, though this lament about fame will inevitably be read as a reaction to the high-profile, frequently ugly defamation case he recently brought against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

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