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Lana Del Rey live at Coachella 2024: distinctive star stays true to herself
Before Coachella 2024 kicked off, Lana Del Rey appeared to hint that her headline moment was the crux of a narrative arc of redemption. On the side of the highway leading to the desert festival, she posted a billboard nodding to the 2012 SNL performance she was mercilessly crucified for. “Has anyone else died for you?” it pointedly asked, designed in a way that sent up the advertising hoardings that populate America’s Bible Belt.
When she arrives on stage tonight (April 12) – making her grand entrance via a motorcade of motorbikes, riding through the crowd – it doesn’t feel like redemption. Del Rey has long proven what she’s really capable of, both on record and in her live performances that have seen her become a festival headliner around the world. Instead, her first time atop the Coachella bill feels reflective; a survey of all she’s done and created over the last 12 years.
It begins by dialling things all the way back to 2012 and her debut album, ‘Born To Die’ – or, more specifically, one of its bonus tracks, ‘Without You’. It’s a surprising but beautiful opening, even if its “Hello hello, can, can you hear me?” line takes on a prophetic slant later in the set. There are songs dug out from Del Rey’s cupboard that haven’t been played in years – the hazy ‘West Coast’, and her take on Sublime’s ‘Doin’ Time’ among them – and, even when she’s playing some of her biggest hits, there’s a feeling that you’re watching a setlist of lowkey gems. The stuttering ‘Bartender’ melds smoothly with the dreaminess of ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’’s yearning shifts quickly into the more gently acerbic ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’.
As that ‘Without You’ lyric predicts, though, Del Rey’s set – like much of day one across the festival – is mired by sound issues. At several points, she stops singing to check on technical issues and, after the gorgeous ‘…Ocean Blvd’, sings: “As quiet as I am, how are you doing?” That seems to be both a reference to the sound and her not spending much time interacting with the audience – immediately after, she continues her melodic inquiry: “As little as I have to say, can you hear me well?”
Some festival-goers and critics have pointed to Del Rey as an “odd” choice of headliner – someone not exactly known for putting in energetic, flashy performances. Tonight, unswayed by those opinions, she sticks to what is true to her and instead focuses on something artful rather than gimmicky. After arriving on her motorcade, she enters a stage built to look like a palatial old mansion, where she’s joined by dancers moving down the grand staircases and, later, guests who stop by to stay for a moment. The beauty in the performances comes in the small details – the star lying back on her dancers for ‘Pretty When You Cry’, all of them dressed in blue like a pool of sparkling tears, or her leaning into the narrative of ‘Bartender’, briefly, coolly, checking her appearance in a mirror while the performers around her venture into choreography that feels almost occultist.
There is a subtle flash, though. When Jack Antonoff takes a seat behind the piano for ‘Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have – But I Have It’, he’s not joining flesh-and-blood Lana on stage, but a hologram version of her that spins slowly, gracefully in one spot. When the song arrives at the “Hello, it’s the most famous woman you know on the iPad” lyric, it feels like the stage has become our screen, Del Rey’s virtual image beaming through from somewhere else.
As rumoured, a handful of guests make an appearance, too, including Antonoff. First, Jon Batiste joins her for a sublime ‘Candy Necklace’ that closes with the pair ad-libbing together in harmony. After, Billie Eilish sits next to Del Rey on her balcony, duetting versions of their respective breakthrough songs, ‘Ocean Eyes’ and ‘Video Games’. It’s a stunning coming together of two of music’s most distinctive voices.
As well as an impressive catalogue, what Del Rey has also created over the last 12 years is impact – something that’s evident across Coachella this year. Earlier in the day, Chappell Roan projects her image onto the screen behind her as she performs, while throughout the bill, you can spot more artists who’ve been inspired by the headliner, like Suki Waterhouse and The Last Dinner Party. After ‘Video Games’ ends, Del Rey turns to the crowd to remind them Eilish is “the voice of our generation”, but her guest has her own truth to share: “This is the reason for half of you bitches’ existence,” Eilish bluntly declares. A short while later, Del Rey returns backstage on her motorcade. As she waves to the crowd like a 1920s beauty queen on an elegant victory lap, it’s clear redemption is not the theme of the night but a celebration of a star who always stays true to herself.
Lana Del Rey played:
‘Without You’
‘West Coast’
‘Doin’ Time’
‘Summertime Sadness’
‘Cherry’
‘Pretty When You Cry’
‘Ride’
‘Born To Die’
‘Bartender’
‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’
‘The Grants’
‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’
‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’
‘Arcadia’
‘Candy Necklace’
‘Ocean Eyes’
‘Video Games’
‘Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have – But I Have It’
‘A&W’
‘Young and Beautiful’
Where It’s At
In this month’s Uncut, we bring together The Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney and Beck for an exclusive interview to celebrate their work together on The Black Keys new studio album, Ohio Players… Let’s just call them The Beck Keys.
Now read on for an extract from this one-off encounter…
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That’s a picnic lunch 20 years in the making. The two acts have been circling each other for decades, bound by their shared love of blues, funk and soul. After touring together in 2003, the three musicians often talked about jamming, recording or just hanging out together, but their plans only finally came to fruition in 2022, when Beck stopped by Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville and the trio raced through a handful of songs in an afternoon. “When you’re working on a record and the songs are coming together, whatever the energy and the vibe, it just goes into the music,” says Beck.
Such energies are evident on the lively Ohio Players, which combines the thickfreak attack of The Black Keys with Beck’s bottles-and-cans-and-just-clap-your-hands aesthetic. Of the album’s 14 tracks, Beck co-wrote seven and played on several others, injecting them with lively rhythms and flourishes of funk, r&b and even country. “That’s the whole draw of music,” says Carney. “It’s an art form that’s very collaborative. It’s one of the few forms where you create something from nothing.”
To celebrate their fruitful work together, The Black Keys and Beck – let’s just call them The Beck Keys – sat down with Uncut for an exclusive joint interview. In this excerpt, they discuss their first hook-ups…
PATRICK CARNEY: You might not remember this, but I met you on the Odelay tour. I was about 16 and my uncle Ralph arranged through Smokey Hormel [Beck’s guitarist] to get me a backstage pass. It was the first time I went backstage at a show. That was one of my first concerts and it totally blew my mind. I was a huge fan and still am. I think we talked about The Shaggs for a while.
BECK HANSEN: I remember hanging with you… it must have been ’96 or something? We were playing in Ohio. I don’t remember the place, but I remember we talked for a long time. Your uncle Ralph had auditioned for the band and was friend of Smokey’s. I knew about him because he had played with Tom Waits. I remember he showed up at rehearsal with a Chinese nose flute! He had all these weird flugelhorns, which didn’t really go with the songs we were playing at the time. I was like, “Damn, I wish I had the right album for this guy…”
CARNEY: I came to two shows: you played Akron and the following spring you were headlining with The Roots and Atari Teenage Riot. Then we met again at a Saturday Night Live afterparty in 2003. Our friends in Sleater-Kinney got us in. I gave you a promo of Thickfreakness on CD. A couple of weeks later we learned through our agent that you had offered us a spot on his summer tour. That was huge for us. We jumped at the opportunity.
BECK: I remember meeting you guys that night! It was a huge blizzard and we were stuck in New York. I thought you had snuck into the party.
DAN AUERBACH: We did! We weren’t supposed to be there. But here’s our CD, you’re going to love it!
BECK: People would give me CDs all the time, but I remember listening to your album and thinking, ‘Shit, this is really good.’ Then you played at this place down the street from my house called Spaceland. I think you were opening for a band called Jet. I walked down there just to see y’all. I brought this producer friend along with me. There were probably less than 10 people there. Both our jaws were on the floor. I felt like we were at the Forum watching this band play their greatest hits set when they’re 50.
CARNEY: We didn’t know you were in the audience that night. That’s when we were touring in a Buick Century, just the two of this in a car. There was so much gear that we couldn’t even recline the passenger seat. The night before, we had played Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco then we had to drive all night to have a meeting at 10 in the morning in L.A. We were completely zoned…
BECK: But you played an amazing show. It was just so formed, the songs were all good. When you would play a song, it was like, ‘Oh man, they’re playing this one!’ Which is wild for a fairly new band. It was undeniable. That’s when I told my manager I wanted to have these guys out on my tour. It was a big tour. All of North America. I think it started in Boston. It was good to reconnect with you.
Read the full feature only in the latest edition of Uncut – in shops now and available to buy direct from us here
Ohio Players is available now from Nonesuch and can be ordered here
Perfect Circle
On a Thursday night in February at the famous 40 Watt club in Athens, Georgia, REM fans got to witness the closest thing we may ever see to a full-band reunion. As actor Michael Shannon and guitarist Jason Narducy brought their touring celebration of 1984’s Murmur to REM’s hometown, members of the original band began joining the the fray, until Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe were sharing a stage for the first time in 17 years.
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“Bill asked us if he could play piano on ‘Perfect Circle,’ which he does on the record,” says Narducy. “And when I saw ‘Pretty Persuasion’ coming up on the setlist, I asked our stage manager to see if he could find Mike Mills and invite him up, since that song has such heavy backing vocals. He jumped up and kept on jumping up.” Buck, meanwhile, had been at the club since soundcheck, giving Narducy a few pointers. “Even when he was on-stage with us, he’s showing me these little things as he was playing on the record. It was very touching for a massive fan like myself. I still don’t think I’ve even grasped it, honestly.”
Finally, at the end of the night, Stipe jumped on-stage to thank the band and the excited crowd, completing the quartet. “It’s an honour to hear the songs so fresh, live in a room again,” Stipe tells Uncut later. “Since I was always singing them, I never got to hear them.”
The reunion was the unexpected culmination of Shannon and Narducy’s tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of REM’s legendary debut, with the acclaimed actor and the veteran sideman covering Murmur in its entirety. “It’s not a tribute band,” says Narducy. “We’re not using the exact same equipment or dressing up like them. It’s a pretty weird thing that seems to be working.” The band is more like a theater troupe using the album as a script; rather than recreate it, they reinterpret it each night, with Shannon bringing a more punk-derived vocal and Narducy turning Buck’s guitar riffs inside out. “I was already in love with this band, but then I went deeper into their catalogue and learned the songs inside out,” says Narducy. “Now I’m an even bigger fan.”
The pair both latched on to REM as teenagers in the 1980s, discovering them via Document and then working backwards as they moved forward with their own creative careers. After playing in the influential bands Verboten and Verbow, Narducy has lately been touring with Bob Mould and Sunny Day Real Estate. And many of Shannon’s roles involve music and musicians, including his recent performance as George Jones in the Showtime series George & Tammy. Their partnership has roots in Chicago’s anything-goes music scene, when they met ten years ago to cover The Velvet Underground & Nico with local alt.country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks. Since then, they’ve done similar sets devoted to The Cars, The Smiths, Neil Young and The Modern Lovers.
Of all the albums they’ve covered together, none has provoked such a strong reaction from fans – or from the original artists – as Murmur. Even before they coaxed their heroes back on-stage, they were playing to some of their biggest and most excited crowds yet. “There’s something about early REM that has really struck a chord,” says Narducy. “They were one of the biggest bands in the world, but they’ve maintained this grace and creativity that is so rare.”
Total Blam-Blam! Inside this month’s free Uncut CD
Jessica Pratt, Michael Head, Khruangbin and more appear on our latest free CD
All copies of the May 2024 issue of Uncut come with a free, 15-track CD – Total Blam-Blam – that showcases the wealth of great new music on offer this month, from Jessica Pratt, Michael Head and Khruangbin to Mint Mile, Gospelbrach and Arthur Melo. Now dive in…
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1 MINT MILE
Sunbreaking
Silkworm’s Tim Midyett returns with the second Mint Mile album, Roughrider, mixing up the sounds of his old band with the ragged swing of Pavement and Crazy Horse, and some gorgeous chamber accompaniment.
2 JESSICA PRATT
World On A String
Here In The Pitch, the long-awaited follow-up to 2019’s Quiet Signs, is our Album Of The Month on page XX. Here’s a highlight of this seductive, velveteen folk record, with Pratt’s strummed nylon-string acoustic and echoing voice gradually joined by a haze of Mellotron synths, keys and sparse drums. Truly magical.
3 MICHAEL HEAD & THE RED ELASTIC BAND
Ambrosia
Another masterclass in songwriting here from Michael Head, and a highlight of his new album Loophole, produced once again by Bill Ryder-Jones. Following 2017’s Adios Senor Pussycat and 2022’s Dear Scott, he’s on a roll, and has even found time to pen a memoir, Ciao Ciao Bambino.
4 KHRUANGBIN
Pon Pón
Laura Lee, Mark Speer and DJ Johnson have distilled their potent sound down to its essence on their new album A La Sala. It’s a retro-tinged exploration of the globe’s most funkily psychedelic sounds, with the result going down as smoothly as a sunset cocktail.
5 GOSPELBRACH
Nothin’ But A Fool
Brent Rademaker is well-known for his work with the brilliant Beachwood Sparks, but for the last decade he’s led this artful Californian troupe. New LP Wiggle Your Fingers is touted as the band’s final album, so best get onto their classic Paisley Underground sounds before it’s too late.
6 SCOTT H BIRHAM
Death Don’t Have No Mercy
‘The Dirty Old One Man Band’ from Texas has been making roots records a little under the radar for a while now – but with The One & Only Scott H Biram he deserves to be far better known. Here he is weaving a bluesy spell with just an old classical guitar.
7 PYE CORNER AUDIO
Counting The Hours
Martin Jenkins habitually releases a host of records on different labels, and his albums on Ghost Box always seem to be his strangest and most conceptual: The Endless Echo, then, examines the nature of time in claustrophobic, ominous style, drum machines, drone clusters and synth arpeggios painting a widescreen, dystopian picture.
8 ARAB STRAP
You’re Not There
Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton return, reassuringly, as bitter and scathing as ever on their new album I’m Totally Fine With It 👍 Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore 👍. Building on 2021’s As Days Get Dark, it’s a brilliant amalgam of dark electronica, raging post-rock and wickedly funny spoken-word.
9 BIG|BRAVE
Canon In Canon
It’s hard to believe this Quebec trio started as a folk group, such is the ferocious noise they create now. On their seventh album, A Chaos Of Flowers, their sound is closest to latter-day Low, crushing distortion mingling with minimalist, hushed melodies.
10 ARTHUR MELO
Saídas
Though still in his twenties, this singer, guitarist and songwriter from the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte looks back to his country’s pop music of the ’70s. This track, a highlight of his latest album Mirantes Emocionais, pays tribute to his hero Caetano Veloso with a swooning ballad that wouldn’t have been out of place on 1972’s Transa.
11 IRON & WINE
All In Good Time (feat. Fiona Apple)
Sam Beam is back, and this time he’s brought Fiona Apple along to help: this cut comes from his new album Light Verse, just the latest in his impressive catalogue. Beam talks Uncut through his records in our Album By Album feature this issue.
12 JAMES ELKINGTON & NATHAN SALSBURG
Death Wishes To Kill
The two guitarists are often found working together, but their new album All Gist marks their first duo record since 2015’s Ambsace. It’s an entrancing, varied record, their interlocking picking occasionally joined by additional textures, such as the strings and percussion that surface here.
13 POKEY LAFARGE
Sister André
The artist born Andrew Heissler has been spreading his old-time good news for almost 20 years now, and this fine track from his new LP Rhumba Country is another example of his way with updating the sounds of yesteryear: ragtime, gospel, blues, country and rock’n’roll.
14 AMEN DUNES
Boys
Now resident in Woodstock, New York, Damon McMahon has expanded his outsider folk sound with harsh electronics and some avant-rock grit on Death Jokes. Check out the end of “Boys” and you’ll hear manipulated samples taken from all manner of sources, a consistent feature of the album.
15 CAMERA OBSCURE
We’re Going To Make It In A Man’s World
It’s been over a decade since Tracyanne Campbell and co last released an album, but Look To the East, Look To The West is a fitting return. The Glaswegians don’t mess with the formula too much, and the result is an autumnal, bittersweet blast of melody, with heartbreak and disappointment not far behind.
Now Azealia Banks and KT Tunstall are best friends on social media after ‘Cowboy Carter’ claims
Azealia Banks and KT Tunstall have struck up an unlikely friendship in the aftermath of comments made by the former about Beyoncé’s new album ‘Cowboy Carter’.
Banks has been openly critical about Queen Bey’s new country-influenced musical direction, describing it as “white women cosplay” and stating that she feels the singer is “setting herself up to be ridiculed”.
In her latest outburst after hearing the album, Banks complained about the absence of Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves, before claiming that she “personally would have jumped out of my seat for a KT Tunstall appearance” on the record.
Responding to the comment by sharing NME‘s article, Tunstall has since replied on social media, jokingly writing: “To be fair, I’d have 100% got off the couch.”
To be fair, I’d have 100% got off the couch https://t.co/RtqSkiJVxX
— KT Tunstall (@KTTunstall) March 29, 2024
The back-and-forth has continued, with Banks quoting Tunstall’s response and replying on Instagram: “’Suddenly I See’ is one of my favorite songs @kttunstall! I’m still banging that jawn!!”
“You know how to craft such joyful, traveling and effervescent melodies. And your lyricism is so vicersral [sic]..magical melodies that and big black horse and cherry tree!”
Tunstall herself replied to Banks’ comment, saying: “Deepest thanks xxx In these strange times, I’m grateful I sat in my shitty basement in London and wrote these songs all on my own with no dilution – honest and raw, no agenda. More of that (and Joy please!) from all of us. Love to you.”
‘Cowboy Carter’ was released on Friday (March 29) and serves as Beyoncé’s eighth studio album as well as the second in an expected trilogy that began with 2022’s ‘Renaissance’.
Banks also appeared to respond to the new version of ‘Jolene’ on the album, which many have speculated features Beyoncé making reference to Jay-Z cheating on her.
“Plus who is this imaginary adversary sis thinks still wants to hump on J in 2024?,” Banks wrote. “She’s gotta find new content. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY thinks he’s even remotely attractive …. LOL”.
But she did go on to find room to praise aspects of ‘Cowboy Carter’, including the “great work” by the “band/producers/engineers”, suggesting the record “might be her most sonically cool attempt at being arty”.
With ‘Cowboy Carter’ now released, fans have been reacting to the new cover of The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’ and Beyoncé’s re-interpretation of Parton’s ‘Jolene’.
Ezra Miller recast in ‘Invincible’ after string of controversies
Ezra Miller’s role has been recast in the second series of the Amazon Prime animated superhero series Invincible.
The role played by Miller, of the mad scientist D.A. Sinclair, who seeks to “improve” humanity, has now been taken over by Eric Bauza (X-Men ‘97, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
Miller was embroiled in a number of legal issues in 2022, including accusations of using violence and other intimidatory methods to influence an adolescent, as well as two arrests in Hawaii – one for disorderly conduct and harassment and another for second-degree assault.
They also pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge related to a burglary case in Vermont. Two other charges, of petit larceny and burglary in an unoccupied property, have been dropped. Prosecutors reportedly recommended a year’s probation, $500 (£411) fine and 89 to 90 days in a suspended sentence.
In October 2022, Miller pleaded not guilty to felony burglary charges after allegedly breaking into a home in Vermont. The maximum sentence if convicted was 26 years in prison.
Miller has since apologised for their past behaviour and sought treatment for “complex mental health issues”.
In June 2022, it was reported that Miller would be dropped from future DC Films, after the release of The Flash, in which he took the lead role.
Season one of the ultraviolent Invincible series scored a four star review from NME‘s Dan Seddon, who wrote: “Invincible is wildly unpredictable, its ruthless narrative and handbrake turn plot twists belying the show’s conventional superhero setup. In fact, the series is so willing to off key characters that it makes Game Of Thrones’ ‘Red Wedding’ look like a summer tea party in a country garden.”
Season two of the show has been split into two parts. The first half – which consisted of four episodes – premiered in November, while the latter half debuted on March 14. The remaining three episodes will air weekly every Thursday up until April 4.
RAYE reveals that she co-wrote Beyoncé’s ‘RIIVERDANCE’ on ‘Cowboy Carter’
RAYE has revealed that she co-wrote one of Beyoncé‘s songs on ‘Cowboy Carter’.
The six times BRIT Awards winner has previously penned songs for Queen Bey most notably 2019’s ‘Bigger’ along with tracks for Mabel and Charli XCX,
Now, she has taken to Instagram to celebrate the release of the new record, which dropped today, and share her “honour” in contributing to the LP.
Sharing a clip of herself singing along to the track, which you can listen to below, RAYE wrote: “happy COWBOY CARTER day. What an honour it is to being able to contribute my small piece to this beautiful album, and to THE @beyonce who continues to inspire all of us. Track 23 : RIIVERDANCE , co – written by me found my beat up cowboy hat i bought on my 21st birthday for this special occasion.”
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The record also features a collaboration with Miley Cyrus, a cover of Dolly Parton‘s ‘Jolene’ and The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’.
Parton has since hailed Queen Bey’s re-interpretation of her classic hit, writing: “Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love, Dolly P.”
It comes after she previously gave Beyoncé’s country pivot her blessing, saying: “I’m a big fan of Beyoncé and very excited that she’s done a country album.” Ahead of Queen Bey’s version, Parton also asked fans to stream her original track.
Elsewhere, Azealia Banks gave her verdict on the album after she previously criticised Queen Bey’s new musical direction, which she described as “white women cosplay”, while also stating that she feels the singer is “setting herself up to be ridiculed”.
After remarking that she would have “jumped out of my seat” if there had been a KT Tunstall feature on the record, the singer-songwriter jokingly responded: “To be fair, I’d have 100% got off the couch.”
Meanwhile, following her record breaking BRIT Awards victory, RAYE recently hit out at industry executives for underpaying songwriters while taking huge profits for themselves. She also performed on Saturday Night Live.
Here’s the tracklist for Beyoncé’s new album ‘Act II: Cowboy Carter’
Beyoncé has revealed the track listing for her upcoming new album ‘Act II: Cowboy Carter’, just two days ahead of its release.
‘Cowboy Carter’ is set to be released on Friday (March 29), the pop icon’s eighth studio album, and the second instalment of a believed trilogy project that began with 2022’s ‘Renaissance’.
Tracks included on the album are previous singles ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ and ‘16 Carriages’, as well as ‘Jolene’, which Dolly Parton had previously confirmed Beyoncé had recorded a cover of.
See all the titles revealed by Beyoncé in an Instagram post below:
Also listed are songs named ‘Dolly P’ and ‘Smoke Hour Willie Nelson’, apparent tributes to greats of the country genre, as well as ‘The Linda Martell Show’, a reference to one of the first successful Black country artists.
Last week, Queen Bey revealed the artwork for the album, after having disclosed its name a month earlier.
The artwork sees the singer in a white cowboy hat with long platinum blonde locks while wearing a red, white and blue leather outfit holding an American flag and wearing a “Country Carter” sash while sitting upon a white horse.
The singer also addressed some of the backlash she has received for foraying into the country music sphere. Writing on Instagram, she said: “This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”
“It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
She continued: “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
“I focused on this album as a continuation of RENAISSANCE…I hope this music is an experience, creating another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop. This ain’t a Country album.” she concluded. “This is a “Beyoncé” album. This is act ii COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y’all!”
Among the critics of Beyoncé’s new direction is Azealia Banks, who has described her new music as “white woman cosplay”, and said she is “setting herself up to be ridiculed”.
The album is available for pre-save/pre-order here. Limited edition coloured vinyl pressings in red, white, blue and black are available as well as two limited-edition CDs with alternative cover photos featuring half of her face on display.
Producer of Beyoncé’s ’16 Carriages’ reveals song was made before ‘Renaissance’
A producer who worked on Beyoncé‘s hit ’16 Carriages’ has revealed that the song from her forthcoming country album ‘Cowboy Carter’ was made before ‘Renaissance’, despite the latter being released first.
Atia ‘Ink’ Boggs said in a new interview that ’16 Carriages’ was the first song she had worked on with Beyoncé, but it saw the light of day much later than the three songs she worked on from ‘Renaissance’.
“So a lot of people don’t know, we actually had this first,” she explained on the Acknowledged YouTube series. “So imagine having this timeless, classic music first and having to wait, and then she came up with ‘Act I’.”
Boggs said that she first started working with Beyoncé in 2020 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic influenced the direction of the music they worked on and how it was eventually released.
“So we came out of being isolated, back into the world from no parties to finally expressing ourselves,” she continued. On the subject of her pivot to country, Boggs said: “And it’s like, baby, we don’t do just one thing we do everything and we do it well. That’s what she’s letting you know. This is her southern roots, this is her Texas roots.”
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The producer reiterated that the change in direction demonstrates that Beyoncé can’t be put in a box. “Representation matters, that sound matters. This sound is Black music, this is what we started,” she said. “’16 Carriages,’ that was one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made and produced in all of my life. Because it’s so personal. I love to see her in that personal light.”
When it was announced in 2022, ‘Renaissance’ was billed as the first of a trilogy, to which ‘Cowboy Carter’ is the second part. Fans have theorised that the third act will be a rock album after the artist was photographed with a mullet for CR Fashion Book.
However, Boggs wouldn’t be drawn on confirming or denying rumours. “See, y’all skipping… Shit, we got to get to Act II first.”
This week, the Guggenheim museum have shared that they “did not authorize” Beyoncé‘s ‘Cowboy Carter’ advert projection on the museum.
On Wednesday night (March 20), a promotional advert for the pop icon’s upcoming country album was projected onto the museum in New York City. “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” as well as the LP’s title and release date of March 29 (pre-save/pre-order here) were projected onto the building. The phrase was a reference to her Instagram post which she posted earlier where she addressed the backlash she received over exploring the country genre.
In a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, Guggenheim explained that the institution “was not informed about and did not authorize this activation. However, we invite the public — including Beyoncé and her devoted fans — to visit the museum May 16–20 when we present projections by artist Jenny Holzer on the facade of our iconic building to celebrate the opening of her major exhibition.”
Sheer Mag Playing Favorites
For a while there Sheer Mag were the last great American indie band, releasing singles, EPs, compilations and at least two classic albums on their own shoestring Wilsun RC imprint based out of Fishtown, Philadelphia. But it’s only fitting that they finally signed on the dotted line with Jack White’s Third Man Records.
PINK FLOYD ARE ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – ORDER YOUR COPY HERE
Though they’re not quite ready for the label’s hand-crafted, lathe-cut, heavyweight vinyl treatment – the quintessential Sheer Mag format you feel might still be a busted-up, unspooled old cassette you find at the side of the road outside a gas station somewhere on I-10 – you could say that Sheer Mag are the true spiritual heirs of The White Stripes.
If the Stripes’ artfully homespun, high-concept primitivism was the perfect expression of the USA’s garage band soul at the turn of the century, then the Philly quartet are the modern equivalent. Both the Mag and the Stripes are bands that have thrived on limitations. In fact, what mono was for Jack and Meg, you might say compression is for Sheer Mag. Look at the wave form for “Eat It Or Beat It”, the second track on Playing Favorites, and it’s as solidly brickwalled as the Eastern State Penitentary – none of the rich dynamic range that’s come into favour since the end of the CD-era loudness wars. It’s the sound of late-night AM radio sometime in the late 1970s/early ’80s, where hard rock, power pop, country, new wave, disco and even a little prog have been impacted together into diamond-hard nuggets consisting of pop hooks, gutbucket rock’n’roll and demented, defiant joy.
It’s part of Sheer Mag’s irresistible charm that they continue to find thrilling new ways of traversing the same dirt track chicanes of verse, chorus, bridge and solo. In fact Hart and Kyle Seely, the engine room and writers of Sheer Mag’s tunes might be the most smartest pop formalists this side of Jack Antonoff. Playing Favorites kicks off with the title track, another timeless anthem to chasing the domestic blues away, packing up the van and searching for kicks on the road. For all Tina Halladay’s shredded vocals – she’s Janis Joplin, straining to make herself heard over an XF-84H Thunderscreech – it’s an immaculate confection, rivalling New Zealand’s power-pop supremos The Beths in the elegant ingenuity of its construction.
The album supposedly began life as an attempt at a disco EP – albeit the kind of dancehall where the floor comes alive with shots of jack rather than poppers – and though Sheer Mag aren’t quite ready for their string section, you can hear some of the Philly roots of disco on “All Lined Up”, which makes a metaphysical conceit worthy of Marvell out of the ricochet of pool balls across a desolate poolhall. “This world’s cold, and we’re alone/But we’re not just drifting through outer space,” croons Halliday hopefully. “We got shot at an angle/To the deepest pocket yet made”. At times Sheer Mag are miraculous pop hustlers, still pulling off the most absurd trick shots on the scuffed three yards of stained green baize.
Which isn’t to say that they’re not above a little experiment. In the past Sheer Mag may have viewed the four-minute mark with the same wariness as the Ramones or Roger Bannister, but here we have “Mechanical Garden”, clocking in at an epic 5:55, comprising a ZZ Top boogie prelude, an orchestral interlude and some arpeggios that might have found a home on Rush’s Moving Pictures, before resolving into a disco strut worthy of Hall & Oates. What’s more it features guest shredding from Tuareg guitar master Mdou Moctar.
But the most intriguing departure on Playing Favourites might be the moments when they turn down the dial from 11 for a moment. “Tea On The Kettle” was apparently inspired by the band’s love of Essex post-psych mavericks the Cleaners From Venus. “Someday when we can find more than pennies and dimes, we’ll go somewhere gentle,” sings Tina with beguiling tenderness, like she’s dusting herself down after battling through another force 10 hurricane. “Baby, with you by my side it’s a whole new ball game.” At times like this it feels like Sheer Mag are only just getting started.
Yungblud tells us about his past, present, future and new festival BludFest
Yungblud has announced details of his own festival BludFest – taking over Milton Keynes Bowl this summer with a stacked line-up. Find details below, and see above to watch our interview with Dom Harrison as he tells us what to expect while weighing up his past, present and future.
After teasing fans with his “biggest announcement yet“, the Doncaster artist has now revealed that the inaugural BludFest will be headed to Milton Keynes Bowl on Sunday 11 August – featuring a headline set from Yungblud alongside a line-up featuring recent collaborator Lil Yachty, as well as Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, The Damned, Lola Young, Jazmin Bean and many more to be announced.
Beyond the music, the “community” focussed event will also play host to include a ‘Make A Friend’ tent, free photobooths, a Yungblud museum, and a recreation of Camden’s iconic The Hawley Arms – the artist’s favourite pub.
Asked what it means to be headlining Milton Keynes Bowl in the footsteps of David Bowie, Queen, Green Day and Linkin Park, Yungblud told NME: “Wow! What the fuck? That’s the fucking mad, isn’t it? BludFest is happening! I’m launching my own festival. I had the idea to do it last November. I just had fucking insomnia one night and thought, ‘What’s the next thing we can do that is really a staple and just pushes the boundaries?’
“This whole thing has been about fucking with people. When press don’t write about us, when labels don’t want us, when festivals don’t take us seriously, when people don’t take my generation seriously, let’s just poke the bear every time and piss everyone off to see if we can get away with it. We’re a community, we’re getting bigger, we’re gonna do it anyway!”
He continued: “We were talking and I said, ‘Where can we do it?’ People really got it excited about it and went, ‘Do you know what? Let’s do it at Milton Keynes Bowl. I’ve got that photo of Bowie in his yellow suit from ’83 and I remember [live album and movie] ‘Bullet In A Bible’ by Green Day. I was like, ‘What? We’re gonna do it there?’”
Harrison told NME that he was “excited to lean into the Britishness” of the festival, adding that “this country needs a bit of a kick up the arse, just in terms of mad concepts”.
“We’re very set in our ways in terms of, ‘This is how you do this and this is how you do that’. But you know what? Fuck it,” he said. “We’re gonna keep it really UK-themed and try to bring a bit of unity and love back to the Union Jack and try to re-define it a bit. It feels like a load of bollocks at the moment.
“It’s all about unity, love and a place that people can come to. With Yungblud, we dreamt of a world five years ago and now I’m going to physically fucking build one. This is a place that you can come to and be utterly yourself with your mates, your family or completely on your own. If people don’t know who you really are and you’re hiding it, come to fucking BludFest and do it.”
Yungblud added: “My plan is to eventually take it worldwide, but it had to start in the UK. Hopefully, it’s going to be like something no one else has seen before because my mind is mental and I wanted to put that into a physical world. When you’re walking through those gates at BludFest, you are walking into a physical manifestation of Yungblud.”
Tickets will go on sale at 10am this Friday (March 22) and will be available here.
Watch above or read below for Yungblud sitting down with NME at the Hawley Arms to tell us about why he’s doing something so huge to say thank you to his fans, looking back on his career so far, that ‘feud’ with The 1975’s Matty Healy, and his larger-than-life Britpop-inspired new concept album.
NME: Hello Yungblud. You’ve been reflecting a lot on your life and career lately online. What led you to that?
Yungblud: “To be brutally honest, it’s the first time I’ve actually realised what the fuck has gone on. From being 18-years-old and starting this thing to the end of last year, I’ve just kept my head down and kept running. I’ve never been like, ‘Woah, what the fuck?’. We played Wembley Arena last year and I wasn’t even there. All I’ve ever wanted to do was play a gig, meet people [on loop]. This has been the first moment to take stock on the good bits, the really bad bits, the fun bits, the really crazy bits and sat down with myself and thought, ‘What do I want to do next?’
“I’m 27 next, and I’ve been doing this since I was 18. It’s been like a fucking movie.”
You can’t plan that…
“You can’t plan it, no. A lot of people don’t realise that it’s me and my mates and fucking 10 iPhones – the whole time. I love the [Sex] Pistols, I loved The Damned, I love Siouxsie Sioux and I basically just studied how they belonged somewhere back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. I just put that on an iPhone to connect to people.
“This has got bigger than any of us ever expected. How the fuck do you deal with that? We just needed to take a little bit of time off and be like, ‘Alright – what’s the coolest thing we can do next? What’s the thing that serves our fanbase the best and remembers the people?’ That’s what it’s always been about: me meeting the people and loving them, and hoping that they love me back.”
Even back in 2019 when we spoke, you referred to your following “The Black Hearts Club” as a “community” rather than “fans”…
“Community or family, always. ‘Fans’ puts you on a pedestal. All my life, I just wanted to be a part of something and never felt like I did. I wanted to matter. It’s the hardest thing in the world, feeling really small. It’s really fucking dark. All anyone wants to be is seen. People want to be seen for who they are. I wanted to build a space where people could say, ‘Yo, I feel like you – that’s sick’, or ‘Woah, I didn’t know you liked that too’.
“Even if it’s outside of Yungblud, it was more about creating a space than the music in the beginning. The music was more of a vehicle to be like, ‘Here’s something that you can go too, to find each other’. Then I got really big, and it’s been mad.
“If anyone can ever be arsed to do a film about us one day, it would be mad to go into it.”
Who would play you?
“Barry Keoghan’s got the same nose as me. Put some eyeliner on him and tell him to grow his hair. He’s about the same height as me as well.”
He loves getting his kit off as well
“I love it man, same!”
And now you’re celebrating that community at BludFest…
“I get really buzzed off the fact that people are going to find relationships and make friends there. It’s a festival that’s all about the people and not corporate. We have the best festivals in this country, but as they get older they get more stale and less about the people. They become more about the transaction a bit fucking dated. I just want to vibe out a bit and create something cool.”
What can you tell us about how you landed on this line-up?
“I just wanted it to be artists that I think are completely real. No matter what, whatever people say, we are fucking real and person-to-person. Lola Young is one of my favourite artists from this country at the moment; I think she’s fucking rad. She’s got her own thing going on, she’s different and weird. It’s a really exciting time for British music: from Central Cee to Lola Young, it’s actually moving globally. Nessa Barrett is amazing too. I think she’s a songwriter for a new generation.
“Lil Yachty is trying to do what I’m trying to do and push the boundaries as much as possible, whether people like it or not. I also had the idea to do ‘the icon’s slot’, for an artist that we pay homage to as one that inspired it in the first place. The reason I’ve got a white streak in my hair is because of The Damned. Every year, at about 7.30pm we’re going to have an icon.”
Like the Glastonbury Legends’ slot?
“Yeah, but my own. We’ll have the icon slot then Yachty then me. It’s going to be sick. There are many more to come, but I just wanted something that transcends genre, is defiant as fuck, and is all about inspiration and imagination. It’s a celebration of unity between artists and people.
There’s a certain ‘spiciness’ to the bill for sure…
“It’s a bit fucking naughty. These artists are not beholden to anything. I know how hard it is. People either don’t want to give you a fucking leg up because you’re too dangerous, people don’t believe you, people think it’s fake, or people just think you’re a little too loud. That’s what I’ve experienced. I’m looking at these artists and saying, ‘You’re real as fuck, come and play my festival because my community and family will like you and what you’re saying needs to be heard’.”
Will there be some big collabs on the night?
“Probably. I’ve got mental ideas. Some people are going to come out that are legends – for my set and for other people’s sets. Who I’ve got coming out with me is fucking mental.
Any clues you can share?
“Glasses…”
Cool. What can you tell us about the rest of the experiences on offer?
“I’m not going to give it all away, but we’re going to have a ‘make a friend’ tent. All you’ve gotta do is be inside that tent and you’re approachable. We’re taking The Hawley Arms to the festival and are literally building it in Milton Keynes Bowl. I’m probably going to be watching bands and pouring lager, then at seven o’clock I’ll go have a shower, wash my winky and I’ll be ready to be fucking Yungblud. There’s going to be a Yungblud museum, loads of stuff looking back on what Yungblud’s done, we’ll have a BludBurger; it will be full of experiences.
“I went to Glastonbury and I loved Glastonbury because it’s all about the people, so I wanted to take a little bit of inspiration from that.”
To see that many people there must make you feel invincible and unstoppable as a unit?
“If you love Yungblud, if you hate Yungblud but are kind of interested, if you’ve never had anything to do with Yungblud, if you loved it at 15 but outgrown it, if you’ve come to it older – I want to signify that it’s going to be here forever for you.
“I am not ignorant that people come and go to fanbases. I’ve done it to many artists – but I want Yungblud to be a constant in people’s lives. If you want to turn to it and feel that feeling again, it’s there all the time. I’m going to do this every year and I hope everyone comes from everywhere. That’s why we’ve kept the ticket prices as low as we can.
Ticket prices can be pretty heavy these days. This seems like a bargain?
“That’s what I’m saying: it’s about £50 for 10 or more bands, all in. That is it; we’re not even making money – we’re just doing it for the fucking tunes. I’m excited. It’s all about saying ‘thank for this moment’. I’ve had so many arguments about the price-point but that’s it.”
You’re just here telling your truth and people who appreciate that truth come to you. So when something happens like Matty Healy having a go at you, or when someone attacks another part of your community, do you a grow a thick skin? How does that make you feel?
“Honestly, I don’t really care. That whole ’75 thing was funny to me. It was quite funny because we were in Manchester Arena, ironically, when that whole thing happened. It went on a little too long, and that’s why I found it funny. I like the dude. I think he’s a bit of an idiot, but I like his fucking tunes. It was a pretty cool thing; I was like, ‘Fuck it, right, some fucker’s talking about me, cool’. I thought about it for about two minutes before I went on stage, and never thought about it again since.”
And it didn’t escalate to legendary beef status?
“I don’t think so, no. I think if we saw each other at a party, it’s be like, ‘Alright, you fucking dickhead?’”
You both seem to stand for a lot of the same things.
“That’s what I’m saying; it’s funny! That’s the thing about being British. People like me, people don’t. Honestly, I’d be lying [if I said that] between the ages of 22 and 25 it didn’t get to me – because it really did. This year, having a little bit of time out [has helped]. It’s all bollocks; it’s all fucking entertainment. I’m just having a good time. I love my community, I love my fucking music. I fucking do, that’s all I’ve known up to now and it’s got us to here.
“Lead with your gut, love people, and I think you’ll be alright. That’s my motto.”
When you started teasing BludFest, you said that in order to move forward, you’ve got to look back. Is this the end of a chapter?
“It is the end of a chapter. I’m going into new music, which I can’t wait for you to hear. Again, I’m 27 next and for a character to me it’s either death or rebirth. This point has been amazing up to now. I’ll never lose what it’s about in terms of Yungblud and the soul of it – but musically, this next album is something I’ve been working on for two years and it’s a fucking adventure. It’s a full concept that you can play from start to finish.”
[embedded content]
What can you tell us about that arc?
“It’s been made in England. It’s been made in the North, and I flip the narrative where I’ve sung about darkness. This album is the light. It’s all about getting through it; it’s positive. It’s that thing in your stomach when you listen to Oasis, or The Verve, or Bowie, or Suede, or Madonna. It makes me feel like I can get up today. It makes me feel like I’m invincible and that I can do anything – that’s what this new album sounds like.
“Stone Roses, Amy Winehouse – everything that has fundamentally done work on my soul. Everything up to now has been about your heart and your head and making sure that I’m educated, that I use my voice. That I speak from the heart, meet people, be loud, be bratty, be unapologetic, be crazy. This is [me asking] ‘What does my soul want to say? What do I feel in my fingertips when you stick on [Oasis’] ‘Live Forever’, [The Verve’s] ‘Valium Skies’ or [Primal Scream‘s] ‘Screamadelica’?
“It’ll be a great ‘Urban Hymns’ or ’Screamadelica’. I know the old dudes are going to leather me in the comments for that but I don’t give a fuck because I’m going to go there. If you listen to it, then it’s that from a new perspective.”
So if the world is a bin-fire, you’re just kicking the bin over and saying ‘Let’s go’?
“100 per cent. It’s all about unity and love in another way. As opposed to saying, ‘Fuck you, this is the world we’ve got to get to’, this is saying ‘Come together, look each other in the eye, be human’.”
Will you be using BludFest to launch new material?
“It’s all a little masterplan. I’ve got loads of songs. In the past year since my last album, I’ve been experimenting and dropping songs in realtime. ‘Lowlife’ sounds completely different to ‘Happier’ which sounds completely different to ‘Hated’ which sounds completely different to ‘When We Die (Can We Still Get High)’ with Yachty. Where do I want to go? It’s all been about having fun with it. The answer came that I’m going to make this album that I’ve been trying to make for two years.
“There’s a mixtape of songs that I’ve written and love that might not make any sense but I think are fucking sick, so I’m just going to drop them, going into BludFest and in the meantime create a fucking opus.”
Is this like your ‘Black Parade’?
“It’s a ’Tommy’, it’s a ‘Quadrophenia’ [The Who]. It’s ‘A Night At The Opera’ [Queen]. It’s a ‘Black Parade’ [My Chemical Romance]. It’s an ‘Urban Hymns’. It’s a thing that’s intended to be listened to from start to finish, and it’s pushed me harder and made me gut myself harder than anything before.
“We locked ourselves in a studio in Leeds and just felt. We shut the world out instead of asking, ‘What’s popping on this?’ ‘What’s the state of art’ or whatever. Fuck that. Could this album have been written 50 years ago? Could this album be written in 50 years time? Fucking everything else. It just is.”
[embedded content]
That takes balls
“I’ve always led from truth. We got fucking further than I ever thought we would get, and I can say that. I’m down. It’s all about each other. We might as well just try and reach for fucking Queen, Bowie and The Verve – because they didn’t even know what they were doing at the time. I hope people like it, because it’s fundamentally the most truthful I’ve been able to be since ’21st Century Liability’. I’ve approached this album like I’ve just started.”
Watch our full video interview with Yungblud at the top of the page where he also tells us about breaking America, memories of Camden, the NME Awards, and much more.
Smokey Robinson confirms that he’s in talks for Glastonbury 2024
Smokey Robinson has confirmed that he is in talks for performing at this year’s edition of Glastonbury festival.
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The Motown icon with a career spanning over 70 years shared some details about his potential touring plans. After being asked when he will next perform in the UK by Bizarre’s Howell Davies at Elton John’s Oscars party in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 10), Robinson hinted at a playing there “soon”.
“We’ve been talking about that for the past two weeks — probably soon,” he said (per Metro). Davies also asked the 84-year-old music legend about the potential of playing at Glastonbury. “That’s one of the things we’ve been talking about,” Robinson shared, adding that he would “absolutely” love to take the stage at the Worthy Farm festival. “I love the UK, man. We’ve had some of our greatest times in the UK,” he concluded (per The Sun).
Glastonbury is set to take place from Wednesday June 26 through Sunday June 30. The lineup has yet to be revealed but many fans have been speculating which artists may be playing and headlining this year’s festival.
The latest artist to be tipped as a speculated performer is SZA. Rumours around the American singer-songwriter come following her being announced as one of the headline acts for this year’s BST Hyde Park series. She’ll join the previously-announced artists Shania Twain, Andrea Bocelli, Robbie Williams, Stray Kids, Kylie Minogue and Kings Of Leon at the London event.
The ‘Snooze’ singer is set to be in the UK to headline the show on June 29, meaning that she will also be in the country when the Worthy Farm festival takes place between June 26 and June 30.
Other rumoured headliners include Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and Stevie Wonder with Shania Twain tipped for the legends slot.
Glastonbury organizer Emily Eavis recently shared that the festival’s line-up would be revealed sometime this week. She hinted at the forthcoming line-up at the Women in Music conference held at Oxford University on March 7.
She also previously said a female headliner pulled out of last year’s festival, but this year there would be two female headliners and a female in the Sunday legend’s slot too.
While appearing on an episode of Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s Sidetracked podcast, Eavis said: “I’m always trying to make it the most balanced, diverse bill. It is difficult with female artists because there aren’t enough headliners. But we’re also creating them. We’re putting the bands and female artists on smaller stages and bringing them through all the time so I feel like the pool is going to be bigger soon.
“And who knows? Next year we might get two [female headliners]. And certainly, I can say that the legend [slot] is female.”
‘Dragon Ball’ creator Akira Toriyama has died, aged 68
Legendary Japanese manga creator Akira Toriyama – who created the beloved Dragon Ball franchise – has died at the age of 68.
According to a statement shared today (March 8) via the official Dragon Ball account on X (formerly Twitter), Toriyama died on March 1 due to acute subdural hemotoma. A funeral service has already been held for his family and “very few relatives”.
The statement also notes that Toriyama’s family and the Bird Studio, which he founded, will not be accepting flowers, condolences gifts, visiting and offerings. The studio has also requested that Toriyama’s family be given their privacy and to “refrain from conducting interviews” with his relatives.
Per Bird Studio, Toriyama had “several works in the middle of creation” when he died.
Information ; Dear Friends and Partnershttps://t.co/85dXseckzJ pic.twitter.com/aHlx8CGA2M
— DRAGON BALL OFFICIAL (@DB_official_en) March 8, 2024
Born in 1955, Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. His first published work came in the form of a singular Wonder Island entry in the Weekly Shōnen Jump 1978.
He first achieved mainstream success in 1980 when he created and published the Dr. Slump manga, which ran from 1980 until 1984. In 1984, he debuted Dragon Ball, which would go on to become his most famous work to date, and one of the most important and influential manga and anime works in history.
He also served as a character designer for games such as Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon and Jump Force.
In 2000, he debuted another manga, Sand Land, which has since been adapted into an anime film in 2023 and will be continued as an anime series with an entirely original story written by Toriyama. The Sand Land anime series is due for release later this month.
Following the news of Toriyama’s passing, several key figures in the animation world have paid tribute to the iconic creator.
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda wrote in a statement via Shōnen Jump: “It’s too soon. The hole that has been left is too big. When I think that I will never see him again, sadness washes over me. I had admired him so much since I was a child, and I even remember the day he first called me by name. I also fondly remember the day we walked home after he used the word ‘friend’ to refer to us, and the day we had a great time with Kishimoto. I also remember the last conversation we had.”
“He took the baton from an era where people were told that reading manga would make them stupid, and he was one of the people who created an era where adults and children could enjoy reading manga. He showed us that manga could do so much, and that it could take us to the world. It was like watching a hero charging forward. Not just for manga artists, but the excitement and emotions of the Dragon Ball serialization era must be rooted in the childhood of creators in all industries. His existence is like a great tree.”
Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto wrote in a statement, also via Shōnen Jump: “I grew up with Mr. Toriyama’s manga, Dr. Slump in elementary school and Dragon Ball in high school. It was natural for me to have Mr. Toriyama’s manga next to me as a part of my life. Even when I was feeling down, the weekly Dragon Ball always made me forget about it. It was a salvation for me, a country boy with nothing to do. That’s how much I enjoyed Dragon Ball!”
Kishimoto added: “By chasing after Mr. Toriyama, I was able to find new joy. Mr. Toriyama was always my compass. He was my inspiration. I may be bothering Mr. Toriyama, but I am grateful to him without permission. To me, he was a savior and a god of manga.”
“I just received the news of Mr. Toriyama’s death. I am overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of loss, even greater than when Dragon Ball ended… I don’t know how to deal with this hole in my heart yet. I can’t read my favorite Dragon Ball right now. I don’t even feel like I’m writing this text properly to Mr. Toriyama. Everyone in the world was still looking forward to Mr. Toriyama’s work. If one Dragon Ball wish really comes true… I’m sorry… It may be selfish, but I’m sad, Mr. Toriyama.”
Budget slammed as a “missed opportunity” by UK live music industry
Representatives of the UK’s live music industry have slammed the recent government budget as a “missed opportunity”.
Yesterday, UK Chancellor Of The Exchequer Jeremy Hunt unveiled the latest government budget. Although it was revealed that there would be an extension of the orchestra tax relief, the budget did not deliver on a key demand – a cut in the VAT charged on tickets.
In response, several representatives from various live music organisations have responded negatively to the proposed budget.
Jon Collins, the CEO of Live (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), issued a statement expressing frustration on the lack of action in cutting VAT rates.
He said: “Today’s Budget represents yet another missed opportunity to accelerate the growth of the live music sector and the wider economy while also providing urgently needed support for grassroots music through the reintroduction of a lower VAT rate. 20% VAT on tickets in the UK is vastly out of step with our competitors in Europe and North America and has become a material factor limiting the number of gigs, tours and festivals our world class industry can put on.”
He continued: “Fewer shows mean reduced economic activity in towns and cities across the country – an estimated £1m is spent in local businesses for every 10,000 people who attend a gig – and heaps further pressure onto grassroots music venues that are closing down at an alarming rate. We need urgent action to ensure the whole sector can prosper in the long term.”
Meanwhile, John Rostron (CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals), called for the VAT reduction due to the impact of COVID and Brexit. The AIF recently held its own Five Per Cent For Festivals campaign.
Rostron said: “Festivals need a temporary reduction in VAT on ticket sales from 20% to 5% in order to recover from the impact of Covid and Brexit that has created a credit crunch that is seeing successful festivals having to postpone or cancel this year, months before their events are meant to take place.
“Yet another festival fell yesterday – the 15th event to fall already in 2024. Theatre has made the case for tax relief which is being extended indefinitely. We urge the Chancellor and the Treasury to now turn to festivals to offer a fraction of that support to ensure more events do not make 2024 their last.”
“We urge the Chancellor and the Treasury to now turn to festivals to offer a fraction of that support to ensure more events do not make 2024 their last.”
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) also expressed its “profound disappointment” over the government’s failure to cut VAT rates.
“The economic challenges faced by our sector are catastrophic, and following today’s spring budget announcement, the lack of support will have a profound impact on this sector for years to come,” said NTIA CEO Michael Kill. “For months, the entire sector has been providing the Government with critical information outlining our precarious situation and the urgent need for supportive measures to sustain businesses through these turbulent times.
“For months, the entire sector has been providing the government with critical information outlining our precarious situation and the urgent need for supportive measures to sustain businesses through these turbulent times.
Kill concluded: “In simple terms, it’s time for change. We have lost faith in the government. The livelihoods and businesses we represent are not political pawns but vital contributors to community well-being across the UK. It is imperative that the government recognises this and takes decisive steps to support the sector”.
The UK music industry called for VAT cuts last February, asking Hunt to throw the sector a “vital lifeline” to save venues from closure.
Figures such as Tom Kiehl, UK Music’s Interim Chief Executive, suggested that the VAT rate on tickets be reduced from the current 20 per cent to 10 per cent as a “boost for consumers, music professionals and venues”.
The news follows a report published last January discovering a “disaster” facing grassroots music venues. The Music Venues Trust (MVT) shared a report on the state of the sector for 2023, finding that soaring energy prices, landlords increasing rate amounts, supply costs, business rates, licensing issues, noise complaints and the continuing shockwaves of COVID-19 put increased pressure on the livelihoods of music venues.
As such, several festivals have either cancelled or taken a fallow year for 2024, with co-manager Oscar Matthew of Barn on the Farm telling NME: “From our perspective, the festival in 2023 itself was brilliant – it was a really successful year – but we were hit majorly on a financial level by a mix of increased production costs and a very big reduction in ticket sales. That hit us from both angles and meant we suffered quite substantial losses, despite the actual running of the festival going so well.”
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) also found that 31 per cent of UK nightclubs closed last year, with an average of two closures per week.
Faye Webster Underdressed At The Symphony
Faye Webster is most at home in her own head. Every song on her fifth album puzzles over the way her brain works, how it worries over certain details, how it fixates on certain unpleasant feelings, how it works so often against her. She remembers the smell of her old apartment on “eBay Purchase History”, and she thinks she’s figured out why she’s so self-conscious on “Wanna Quit All The Time”. She tries in vain to evict an ex from her brainpan on, well, pretty much every song. That’s not to say she’s an introvert – Webster is active in the Atlanta arts scene as a photographer and collaborator, and that album title suggests she does get out of the house occasionally – but her songs are all set deep within her own mind. Her primary subject is the tangle of needs and desires, fears and doubts, epiphanies and delusions contained therein.
PINK FLOYD ARE ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – ORDER YOUR COPY HERE
These new songs are all invitations into that headspace, and to her credit Webster doesn’t tidy up for company. The mess is the whole point. It’s a fascinating place to be, largely because she finds so much meaning in everyday observations and mundane ironies, in the small moments many other songwriters might overlook. On “Wanna Quit All The Time” she admits that she’s “overthinking in my head again” and that she’s “good at making shit negative”, but she ends the song with a stray observation: “Right now I hate the colour of my house”. What sounds like a punchline becomes a gut-punch as she realises how little control she has over any aspect of her life.
Webster refined this balance of humour and pathos on her earliest albums in parallel with an idiosyncratic blend of country and R&B, and both became distinguishing signatures on 2021’s I Know I’m Funny Haha. That album enjoyed a long life thanks in some part to TikTok; Webster doesn’t even have an account, but that didn’t stop fans from soundtracking their own clips with snippets of her songs. Months of sold-out tours and a meteoric increase in streaming does take its toll on her psyche, however. “It’s the attention that freaks me out,” she declares, as though she could give up parts, but not all, of the music-making enterprise. Webster sounds like someone who would be mapping her brain even without an audience.
After recording her previous albums in Atlanta and nearby Athens, Georgia, Webster and her trusted backing band decamped to Texas, namely to Sonic Ranch Studios, where Bon Iver and Fiona Apple, among others, have recently recorded. The change of scenery gave her a new perspective on the place she calls home, but it also allowed the band to cut loose a bit. Tightened by long months on the road, they respond sensitively to her vocals, especially on the opening track, “Thinking About You”. At six-and-a-half minutes, it’s the longest song Webster has ever released, and most of it consists of her singing the title over and over again. Her voice remains steady with each repetition, allowing the musicians to elaborate on motifs and ideas: Matt Stoessel and Nick Rosen uncork increasingly jazzy riffs on guitar and piano, respectively, while drummer Charles Garner and bassist Bryan Howard test the elasticity of the song’s breezy groove.
These familiar elements coalesce into something new for Webster: more than country or soul, Underdressed At The Symphony recalls the plushness of ’70s pop and ’60s exotica, but without any nostalgia and therefore without any irony or distance. That allows “Lifetime” (the album’s aching heart) and “But Not Kiss” (its most dramatic heartbreaker) to sound unself-consciously beautiful – which is all the more surprising given that Webster admits to such extreme self-consciousness. By contrast, “My Baby Loves Me Yeah!” and “Lego Ring” (featuring a vestigial verse from Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty) ride simple yet effective grooves, as she yearns for something beyond what she has, even if it’s just a plastic toy.
On Underdressed At The Symphony, less is more. Less is everything. Restraint is crucial to these songs, not just in the band’s careful arrangements but in the way Webster emphasises expressiveness over vocal power. She is, in addition, a minimalist songwriter who uses as few words as possible to conjure emotions too messy or too contradictory or simply too painful to state outright. “I want to sleep in your arms but not kiss,” she confesses on “But Not Kiss”, an unusually uncommitted breakup song about getting close to an ex but not too close. Or, conversely, about pulling yourself away in increments, as though a gradual separation might spare you the pain. Rarely does overthinking a problem sound so inviting or so productive.
Framed answer today here’s the solution for March 02
The last couple of years have seen a huge rise in browser-based puzzle games, tasking players with working out a certain kind of answer using limited guesses. Framed is one of the newest, following in the footsteps of Wordle, but offering a slightly different twist. You’ll still need to work out the answer using limited information and only six tries, but it’ll be movies that you’ll be guessing.
You see, Framed focuses on individual frames, or stills, of an ever-changing roster of movies. Some show a fair amount of action at the start, while others will take careful analysis and decent trivia knowledge to crack. With each wrong guess, a new still is revealed, hopefully adding enough extra information and context for you to guess the correct movie title.
With only six guesses at your disposal, you may need a little help guessing today’s Framed answer. To give you a hint, we’ve included some clues that will tease the title of the movie picked as today’s puzzle. If you’ve already failed today’s puzzle, or would just like to know the answer, we’ve detailed that as well.
Framed hint for today
Today’s puzzle is a psychological thriller drama film.
- Released in 2011
- Directed by Lynne Ramsay
- Stars Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
Framed answer for today (March 02)
The answer for Framed today is We Need To Talk About Kevin. This is the answer for March 02 with a brand new puzzle tomorrow. Check back in if you need any help!
How to play Framed
To play Framed you just need to follow these steps, in your browser of choice. Note that any Framed versions you find elsewhere on app stores or other storefronts are likely to be fakes.
- Go into your browser and visit framed.wtf
- Take a look at the still for today
- Make a guess, if it’s correct, you will see the rewards screen
- If incorrect, you have five more chances, each showing a new still.
Previous Framed answers
Sometimes, when trying to solve the Framed puzzle of the day, it can be extremely advantageous to know previous answers. Here are the answers from the last few days.
- Gandhi
- The Mask Of Zorro
- Frenzy
- Dolemite Is My Name
- Friday Night Lights
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Raising Arizona
- Burn After Reading
- True Grit
- A Serious Man
- Rear Window
- The Love Bug
- Jumper
- Brooklyn
- Gran Turismo
- Source Code
- Matchstick Men
- Last Vegas
- Animal House
- Jennifer’s Body
- Heathers
- Bride Of Frankenstein
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- The Flash
- Desperado
- Alice In Wonderland
- Patton
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie
- Steve Jobs
- This Is Spinal Tap
- Ingrid Goes West
- Heavenly Creatures
- Allegiant
- The King
- Lethal Weapon
- Kramer vs Kramer
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- Saltburn
- Escape From New York
- Yesterday
- 500 Days Of Summer
- Air
- Carlito’s Way
- Cowboys & Aliens
- Before Midnight
- Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Birth
- Magnolia
- Doctor Sleep
- The Full Monty
- Alita: Battle Angel
- Tenet
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Training Day
- Unstoppable
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Dazed And Confused
- Sleepy Hollow
- Spectre
- No Strings Attached
- Mean Streets
- Hail, Caesar!
- Christopher Robin
- Scrooged
- White Christmas
- Black Christmas
- The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
- Battle Of The Sexes
- Foxcatcher
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
- Nightmare Alley
- The Color Of Money
- Barton Fink
- ParaNorman
- Red 2
- Princess Mononoke
- Nomadland
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- License To Kill
- King Richard
- Jungle Fever
- Hell Or High Water
- The Thin Red Line
- Fallen Angels
- Million Dollar Baby
- The Legend Of Tarzan
- The Maze Runner
- Trance
- Maleficent
- The Fighter
- Jumanji
- Monsters vs Aliens
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
- The Green Hornet
- Tick, Tick… Boom!
- Pinocchio
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Pacific Rim
- Only God Forgives
- Aeon Flux
- Mulholland Drive
- As Tears Go By
- Black Hawk Down
- Beautiful Creatures
- Away We Go
- The Blues Brothers
- Barbie
- Sideways
- The Descendants
- Nebraska
- About Schmidt
- Election
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Dracula
- Train To Busan
- Fury
- Donnie Brasco
- Don’t Breathe
- Panic Room
- The Fog
- Eraserhead
- Arachnophobia
- The Evil Dead
- Despicable Me
- The Boxer
- Encanto
- The Lion King (2019)
- Deepwater Horizon
- Creature From The Black Lagoon
- Minority Report
- Diamonds Are Forever
- Bridesmaids
- The Strangers
- Breakfast At Tiffany’s
- Promised Land
- Big Fish
- The Book Of Eli
- Cinderella
- It Chapter Two
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Doctor Strange
- Dogville
- Crimson Tide
- The Accountant
- Before Sunset
- Blonde
- Finding Forrester
- Beauty And The Beast
- The Kids Are All Right
- Constantine
- Clash Of The Titans
- I Give It A Year
- The Expendables 3
- Blow Out
- Lilo & Stitch
- The Sea Beast
- The Karate Kid
- Cocaine Bear
- Office Space
- The Brothers Grimm
- Get On Up
- Shrek 2
- In the Mood for Love
- Glengarry Glen Ross
- Magic Mike
- Pearl Harbor
- My Dinner With Andre
- Spotlight
- Spider-Man
- Deliverance
- A Bug’s Life
- American Ultra
- Coming To America
- Eastern Promises
- The Favourite
- Dead Presidents
- Bad Moms
- The Prince Of Egypt
- Empire Of The Sun
- Don Jon
- The Help
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Coming 2 America
- Collateral
- Blazing Saddles
- Baywatch
- Jack Reacher
- The Interview
- The Impossible
- Gangs of New York
- Friday
- Batman
- Hustle & Flow
- Hook
- This Is England
- Saturday Night Fever
- Xanadu
- Watchmen
- Mary Poppins
- Hitman: Agent 47
- Gattaca
- The Fugitive
- Disclosure
- Anything Else
- Contagion
- Begin Again
- The Age of Adaline
- A Star Is Born
- Spaceballs
- Batman & Robin
- After Yang
- Man On The Moon
- Norma Rae
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- Enter The Dragon
- Girl, Interrupted
- Army Of The Dead
- Deep Cover
- Cruella
- Pulp Fiction
- Dune
- Commando
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Blade
- Atomic Blonde
- American History X
- Bad Grandpa
- Capote
- Man With A Movie Camera
- Battleship
- Driving Miss Daisy
- Barry Lyndon
- Clueless
- Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- Beetlejuice
- At First Sight
- Crocodile Dundee
- The Bling Ring
- Dumbo
- Falling Down
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- The Lion King
- Big
- Army Of Darkness
- James And The Giant Peach
- Creed
- The King’s Man
- Bad Times at the El Royale
- The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
- Aquaman
- Cloud Atlas
- Cujo
- The Godfather Part III
- Game Night
- Philadelphia
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
- Dog Day Afternoon
- Dial M For Murder
- Cast Away
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- The Fifth Element
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Departed
- Deadpool 2
- Red Sparrow
- Limitless
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Battle Royale
- Big Trouble in Little China
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Adaptation
- Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle
- Ed Wood
- The Menu
- The Green Knight
- Fences
- Furious 7
- Dick Tracy
- Deep Blue Sea
- The Village
- Independence Day
- Pride
- Shrek
- Trainspotting
- Hellboy
- First Man
- Almost Famous
- Snowpiercer
- The Great Muppet Caper
- The Last Samurai
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
- A Million Ways To Die In The West
- Looper
- Miami Vice
- Inherent Vice
- Gods of Egypt
- The Fly
- Chappie
- The Big Year
- Brave
- Bridge of Spies
- Anna Karenina
- Toy Story 2
- Speed Racer
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- Cleopatra
- Con Air
- Car Wash
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence
- Garden State
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Beauty and the Beast
- Ben-Hur
- The Place Beyond The Pines
- Sound of Metal
- Before Sunrise
- Centurion
- Aloha
- Elysium
- Hercules
- The French Dispatch
- Free Guy
- Legally Blonde
- War of the Worlds
- Assassin’s Creed
- Peter Pan
- Red
- Queen of Katwe
- Ready Player One
- Synecdoche, New York
- Walk the Line
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Boyz n the Hood
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Out Of Africa
- The Equalizer
- Rain Man
- Ender’s Game
- The Girl On The Train
- I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Attack The Block
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Riddick
- Team America: World Police
- Milk
- Mars Attacks!
- World War Z
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- The Graduate
- I, Tonya
- The Hunt For Red October
- The Color Purple
- Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
- The Wiz
- Lawrence Of Arabia
- Apollo 13
- Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
- Erin Brockovich
- Drumline
- Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
- The Darjeeling Limited
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Glory
- The Founder
- A Fish Called Wanda
- Prometheus
- Ali
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Do The Right Thing
- The King Of Comedy
- Edward Scissorhands
- Under The Skin
- Man Of Steel
- 8 Mile
- Akira
- You’ve Got Mail
- Amélie
- Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
- GoldenEye
- Basic Instinct
- Step Brothers
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Sin City
- Jarhead
- Fast & Furious 6
- Lost In Translation
- Coraline
- I, Robot
- Finding Nemo
- The English Patient
- Marathon Man
- Heat
- The American
- Forrest Gump
- Ex Machina
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- The Iron Giant
- The Aviator
- Flash Gordon
- Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice
- In Time
- Face/Off
- Cake
- Alien
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- My Neighbour Totoro
- Due Date
- Nightcrawler
- Billy Elliot
- Vertigo
- Lady Bird
- Manchester By The Sea
- Top Gun
- 300: Rise Of An Empire
- Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
- Home Alone
- Shazam
- Babe
- The Polar Express
- Elf
- Die Hard
- It’s A Wonderful Life
- Inside Out
- In Bruges
- The Purge
- Argo
- Mean Girls
- Batman Returns
- Side Effects
- Chicago
- Dumb And Dumber To
- Any Given Sunday
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- House of Flying Daggers
- Black Widow
- Manhattan
- The Great Gatsby
- Bend It Like Beckham
- Australia
- Chef
- About A Boy
- There Will Be Blood
- Cars
- The Da Vinci Code
- Drive
- Warcraft
- Hocus Pocus
- Pain & Gain
- Koyaanisqatsi
- Mamma Mia
- The Hateful Eight
- Paul
- Wayne’s World
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- The Shape of Water
- Quantum Of Solace
- The Princess Bride
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Cool Hand Luke
- Ted
- 21 Jump Street
- The Sound Of Music
- Moneyball
- The Hunger Games
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Iron Man
- Men In Black
- Gravity
- The Mask
- Escape From Alcatraz
- Gladiator
- Hugo
- Ghostbusters
- Halloween 2
- Frankenstein
- The Hangover
- The Muppets
- Annie
- Bronson
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- A Nightmare On Elm Street
- Marriage Story
- The Thing
- Grease
- Frozen
- Amistad
- Saw
- Armageddon
- Memento
- Anaconda
- The Incredibles
- Fast Times At Richmond High
- Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
- The World’s End
- Chariots Of Fire
- A Few Good Men
- Perriort Le Fou
- Zoolander
- The Tree Of Life
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- Juno
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Dunkirk
- The Matrix
- School Of Rock
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Ad Astra
- American Hustle
- Tropic Thunder
- Casino Royale
- Caddyshack
- Dredd
- Fantasia
- Sicario
- RoboCop
- I Am Legend
- Deadpool
- Cool Runnings
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Monty Python’s Life Of Brian
- A Beautiful Mind
- Titanic
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Air Force One
- King Kong
- Rocky
- The Theory of Everything
- The Gentlemen
- Now You See Me
- The Notebook
- Dead Poets Society
- Captain Phillips
- Aladdin
- When Harry Met Sally
- The Mummy
- The Martian
- Hero
- The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
- La La Land
- Braveheart
- The Revenant
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Mud
- The Lego Movie
- Gremlins
- The King’s Speech
- Mrs. Doubtfire
- Moulin Rouge!
- The Hurt Locker
- Galaxy Quest
- Armadeus
- Free Solo
- The Goonies
- Black Swan
- The Social Network
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
- Sleepless In Seattle
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Arrival
- Jojo Rabbit
- Her
- The Big Short
- The Breakfast Club
- Sunset Boulevard
- Notting Hill
- We’re The Millers
- Rango
- Knives Out
- Catch Me If You Can
- The Shining
- 12 Years a Slave
- Fruitvale Station
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- The Dark Knight
- Whiplash
- Seven
- Baby Driver
- Into the Wild
- The Cabin In The Woods
- Color Out of Space
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Saving Private Ryan
- Zodiac
- Back to the Future
- Minari
- Uncut Gems
- Bad Boys II
- Interstellar
- Up
- American Psycho
- Bad Education
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Inglorious Basterds
- The Godfather.
- Apocalypse Now
- Children of Men
- Big Hero 6
- The Proposal
- Parasite
- Crazy Rich Asians
- Soul
- 28 Days Later
- About Time
- Birds of Prey (or Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey)
- The Lighthouse
- Kong: Skull Island
- Joker
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Bird Box
- Isle of Dogs
- Midsommar
- Goodwill Hunting
- 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Moonlight
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Requiem For a Dream
- Les Miserables
- No Country For Old Men
- 1917
- The Imitation Game
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters
- The Godfather Pt II
- Brokeback Mountain
- The Truman Show
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Inception
- 300
- Alien Resurrection
- District 9
- A Quiet Place
- Birdman
- WALL-E
- Gone Girl
- BlacKkKlansman
- Jackie Brown
- Pineapple Express
- Hereditary
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- A Fist Full of Dollars
- One Hour Photo
- Schindler’s List
- The Exorcist
- Bladerunner 2049
- Back to the Future Part II
- Black Panther
- Shutter Island
- O’ Brother Where Art Thou?
- The Witch
- Django Unchained
That’s all you need to know about Framed, and the answer for today. For more puzzle-game goodness, check out our hints for today’s Heardle.
Taylor Swift fan behind “embarrassing” viral ‘Exile’ sobbing reaction video speaks out
A fan who went viral after posting a video of her crying at a Taylor Swift concert has spoken out about the response.
The moment took place during the pop star’s recent show at the Accor Stadium in Sydney over the weekend (February 25), which was her final ‘Eras’ tour date in Australia.
During the performance Madison Blackband, an Australian fan of Swift, shared a video to TikTok, showing her dramatically bursting into tears as the singer performed a rendition of ‘Exile’ – taken from her 2020 album ‘Folklore’.
“My reaction to Taylor singing ‘Exile’ (also known as the song that saved my life),” read the text over the footage.
Now, after accumulating over 1.1million views in less than a week, Blackband has spoken out about the response to the clip.
“I went on [X] and the first thing that popped up was this video. And I was like ‘Oh, it’s happened’,” she said during an interview with Rolling Stone, recalling how the clip was instantly reposted across other social media platforms. “I posted it intending it for like 200 people, not millions.”
At time of writing, Blackband has disabled the comment section on the original video, however, explained that she did it “not because I can’t handle what people were saying, but because I just don’t see the point”.
THIS IS TAKING ME OUT I'M SORRY😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/VMDrtHrKVO
— 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆🫧💚 (@beyoncegarden) February 25, 2024
That being said, many users online have responded harshly to the video, and criticised the fan for being overdramatic, as well as calling out her friends who went to the show with her for not offering her enough support.
“There’s no point letting it upset me. I reacted the way I reacted. I know my friends weren’t judging me. That’s just me. I’m just a passionate person,” she told the outlet (via The Independent).
“The opinion of people thinking that it’s embarrassing and stuff doesn’t mean anything to me because I never thought it was and I’m not going to think it is now just because someone says I should… I understand why people are laughing at it. I laughed at the video myself once I first watched it back.”
She also opened up about her love for the song, saying that the 2020 track “means a lot” to her. “ It’s a song I’ve listened to when I needed anything, as a distraction or to keep me focused,” she explained. “It’s like a safety blanket.”
Taylor Swift is currently on a week-long break from her tour, and set to start the shows up again next week with a gig in Singapore.
In other Taylor Swift news, earlier today it was reported that a lawmaker in the Philippines criticised Singapore and Swift over their exclusive deal, which ensured that the island country was her only ‘Eras‘ tour stop in Southeast Asia.
“[This] isn’t what good neighbours do. Our countries are good friends. That’s why actions like that hurt,” said Philippines representative Joey Salceda during a new interview.
With the run of dates, the ‘Eras’ tour has made history by becoming the first tour to gross $1billion (£796million). Swift has now set the record for the highest-grossing tour of all time too, hitting the 10-digit threshold after 60 shows and eight months of being on the road.
Scott Fagan South Atlantic Blues (reissue, 1968)
Tales of contenders who never fulfilled their early promise are plentiful in the music game, but Scott Fagan’s comes with intriguing details – including having sired Stephin Merritt – and an idiosyncratic soundtrack. Raised in the US Virgin Islands, he moved to New York in 1964 and there started co-writing songs with the heavyweight Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman team. Over the next three years, he also penned the songs that were to form his debut album. The “bigger than Presley” success predicted by Fagan’s high-profile manager, Herb Gart, never came to be, while a deal with Atlantic subsidiary ATCO saw him stuck in a contract with no label advocate. South Atlantic Blues disappeared, leaving only a trace.
PINK FLOYD ARE ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – ORDER YOUR COPY HERE
It’s clearly not through lack of ability or youthful appeal, as this vinyl reissue – which reinstates the original artwork (replacing the 1970 Jasper Johns lithograph, Scott Fagan’s Record, that appeared on 2015’s repressing) – attests. The singer-songwriter was a photogenic 22-year-old when he recorded it with producer Elmer Jared Gordon and the 10 tracks are as accomplished as they are immediately likeable. They’re also diverse, combining folk, country, psychedelic pop and orchestral soul, with calypso and show tuneage providing top notes. Three songs are co-writes with Fagan’s pal and fellow “hardscrabble kid” Joe Kookoolis; one, “Crystal Ball”, with Shuman. Melodrama is in play, due in part to fêted arranger Horace Ott’s work.
Fagan’s voice is as much a defining element of South Atlantic Blues as his songs’ style: its slightly histrionic push and flutter, which recalls early Bowie, may be something of an acquired taste, but in his moodier moments he conjures Scott Walker and Gene Clark. The former is certainly present in set opener “In My Head”, whose lyrics are characteristically allusive (“Myself and I have always seen the sea as secret lover/But does she, does she, does she want the sky instead?/Oh, no, it’s something, something in my head”), the strident brass blasts and Fagan’s anguished, paranoid cry sending mixed emotional messages to great effect. “Crying” is another standout, a slice of bittersweet Southern soul thrown slightly off its axis by a plinking keyboard motif at the two-thirds mark. Very different are “The Carnival Is Ended”, a lilting, Bacharach-meets-Bowie number with steel pans and mariachi brass, and the socially conscious “Tenement Hall”, a Dr John/Van hybrid replete with improv strings and guitar savagery, which exits on Fagan’s near sob of “insane”, repeated to fadeout.
The reissue of his slightly mystical debut will no doubt stoke interest in director Marah Strauch’s forthcoming documentary on Fagan’s life and his new album in the pipeline – the unrecorded soundtrack to Soon, a rock musical co-written with Kookoolis which had a fleeting Broadway run in 1971. One more (deserved) shot at wider recognition, perhaps.
Scotland’s Connect Festival cancelled for 2024
The organisers of Scotland’s Connect Festival have said that the event will not be held in 2024 now while they try to build the “next edition” of the festival.
The festival first ran between 2007 and 2008 at Inveraray Castle in Argyll before later being re-launched in 2022 at the Royal Highland Centre near Edinburgh.
Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, boygenius and Raye all performed at last year’s event.
A statement on social media from organisers read: “We’ve decided to take a break with Connect Music Festival in 2024 to take the time to build the next edition of the festival; to make sure it flourishes, evolves, and continues to offer wonderful experiences for fans.”
The announcement comes in a year where many other grassroots festival events have also been cancelled by organisers. December saw Herefordshire’s Nozstock Hidden Valley announce that 2024 would be their final incarnation after 26 years due to “soaring costs” and financial risk”, while the fan favourite Shepton Mallet skating and music festival NASS announced that they wouldn’t be putting on an event this summer either as it was “just not economically feasible to continue”.
Elsewhere, rising costs also cancelled Dumfries’ Doonhame Festival for 2024, Bluedot announced a year off for the land to “desperately” recover after being struck by heavy rain and cancellations last summer, Nottingham’s Splendour has been canned for this year due to planning delays from a financially-struggling city council, and Barn On The Farm shared that it would be taking a fallow year due to financial constraints.
Standon Calling also recently announced its postponement due to a “very challenging climate”. It came after some of last year’s performers and caterers claimed they were owed thousands by the festival.
A message from Connect…🍃