22 h. ago ‘One minute it’s “would you like to listen to Galaxie 500?”, the next humanity’s enslaved’: can anyone escape Spotify?

As a new book skewers Spotify’s effect on music, two Guardian music writers spent a week assessing the limits of living with and without itLaura Snapes, deputy music editor I was set the task of not listening to Spotify for a week, but Alexis, your task was much worse: only listening to Spotify-created playlists, and the songs it suggested to you based on your listening history. How did that go?Alexis Petridis, chief rock and pop critic One day in the car I just listened to nothing instead of facing it again. When it plays me songs I like, it’s not what I want to hear at that moment. That’s not to say the music it was recommending wasn’t good. One morning it played Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth. I love that song but I didn’t want to hear it then. It played me Billie Holliday’s Riffin’ the Scotch followed by My Bloody Valentine, which clearly demonstrates the great breadth of my music taste – but just because I like it all doesn’t mean I want to hear it all together. I didn’t like tha...

Politics

39 h. ago Aston Villa vs PSG viewers spot embarrassing blunder seconds before Champions League clash

Aston Villa lined up against PSG on Tuesday night in what was one of the biggest nights in the club's history - but the occasion was spoiled somewhat by a bizarre gaffe that saw the Europa League anthem played instead of the Champions League song

Sport

44 h. ago The love that dare not speak its name: why I’m coming out as a gay man who loves Taylor Swift | Joe Stone

She is tragically mainstream, allergic to ‘serving’ on the red carpet and certainly hasn’t thrived against the odds. It’s the antithesis of gay culture – so why do I love her?As a self-evidently gay man, I’ve generally been spared the awkwardness of coming out. That was, until I became a Swiftie. In recent years I have become adept at gauging the temperature of a room before revealing my predilection. Is this a safe space? Will I be sidelined or treated as a pervert because of who I choose to love? Should I lie, or just be evasive? I want to live authentically, but at what cost?Taylor Swift is at once the closest thing we have to a monoculture and the most divisive pop star of modern times. As a self-identified Swiftie, I believe her gift lies in the ability to take hyper-specific experiences and render them universal. I’ve never performed a 149-date world tour while reeling from the heartbreak of having been ghosted by Matty Healy of the 1975, but listening to I Can Do It With a Br...

Politics

3 d. ago Woman and her husband fell in love with a baby name but says their dog 'ruined' it

A pregnant woman and her husband who are expecting their first child have both agreed on a name that they love but it has caused an unexpected issue with their dog

Politics

5 d. ago Name by Constance Debré review – a demolition of bourgeois life

The French author takes aim at marriage, childhood and her illustrious family name in the finale of a landmark autofictional trilogy“What is your name? My name is Nobody, a name is nothing, like family, like childhood, I don’t believe in it, I don’t want it.” Constance Debré has a grand name – her grandfather was the prime minister who drafted the French constitution – and she’s long been trying to disgrace it. She is driven by a mixture of petulant rebellion, existential longing for erasure and revolutionary anarchism. A decade ago she left behind her husband, job as a criminal defence lawyer, furniture and crockery to embark on a new life of casual sex with women and iconoclastic, fervent writing.Following Love Me Tender and Playboy, Name is the final instalment in the autofictional trilogy where, with fury, disdain and panache, Debré has recorded her revulsion at bourgeois life and at the legal system that allowed her ex-husband to remove their son because of her h...

Politics

5 d. ago A song critical of Nigeria's president is barred from airwaves

Authorities in Nigeria have barred radio stations from playing a song critical of President Bola Tinubu and his administration’s policies

Politics

6 d. ago Enzo Maresca names Chelsea player he 'fell in love with' against Legia Warsaw

Blues boss full of praise for his team after emphatic Conference League victory as he also defended the struggling Christopher Nkunku

Sport

6 d. ago ‘Stop Brexit Man’ apologises for ‘intimidating’ Tory staffers with music

Steve Bray, who regularly protests by playing music outside parliament, is in court after allegedly flouting a police banOn a traffic island in Westminster, he played a song titled ‘Brexit Tragedy’ to the tune of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, serenading MPs with the words: “We all live in a Brexit tragedy, a Brexit tragedy, a Brexit tragedy.”Now, the anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray has apologised after hearing in court that his music made Suella Braverman’s chief of staff feel “exhausted”, “intimidated” and “harassed”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago ‘Stop Brexit Man’ apologises in court for ‘intimidating’ Tory staffers with music

Steve Bray, who regularly protests by playing songs outside parliament, is in court after allegedly flouting a police banOn a traffic island in Westminster, he played a song called Brexit Tragedy to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, serenading MPs with the words: “We all live in a Brexit tragedy, a Brexit tragedy, a Brexit tragedy.”Now, the anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray has apologised after hearing in court that his music made Suella Braverman’s chief of staff feel “exhausted”, “intimidated” and “harassed”. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Glam Real Madrid host names one English star she would love to see move to Spain

Glamorous Real Madrid host Maria Arreghini has named Cole Palmer as the one English star she would love to see rock up at the Bernabeu in the summer

Politics

7 d. ago Ronnie O'Sullivan would be 'scared' to coach snooker rival who's 'underperforming'

Ronnie O'Sullivan has not yet made a decision on whether he will compete in the World Championship, but is open to a coaching role and has named the player he would love to mentor

Politics

8 d. ago 'My fella bought a kinky and flexible AI sex doll named Cindy – now he's in love'

JUST JANE: Agony aunt Jane O'Gorman is dealing with a new issue from a concerned Daily Star reader whose fella is worryingly obsessed with his sex doll

Politics

1 week ago ‘Goths don’t have sex – we just stare into the black sun’: Billy Corgan’s honest playlist

The Smashing Pumpkins songwriter and guitarist on overdoing karaoke, joining Pink Floyd on stage and his secret love of Katy Perry’s RoarThe first single I bought She Loves You by the Beatles, for 25 cents at a garage sale in Glendale Heights, Illinois, even though I didn’t know who the Beatles were. I just liked how they looked on the cover, their faces half in shadow.The song that makes me cryI’ve been lucky enough to play Wish You Were Here both when Pink Floyd were inducted in the Hall of Fame, and with Roger Waters at a benefit. It’s speaks to me in a way very few songs do. The pleasure of playing with them is hard to describe. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Who is on Celebrity Big Brother 2025? Every rumoured star including Coronation Street legend, huge Love Island star and 90s pop icon

The much-anticipated new run is set to kick off next month, with names including Love Island's Chris Hughes, Olympian Daley Thompson and Jack P Shepherd among those rumoured.

Politics

2 w. ago I Love It named Charli XCX’s most played song across UK radio and TV

The 32-year-old alternative pop singer co-wrote the track with Swedish duo Icona Pop

Culture

2 w. ago ‘I’d been singing the wrong word for 30 years’: Deacon Blue on how they made Dignity

‘It’s become a sort of folk song. It’s played at weddings and funerals. Dundee United play it when we win. I’ve met people who’ve told me, “I was a worker for the council for 20 years” – just like the guy in the song’I was a teacher in Glasgow but I wanted to start a band and write songs that meant something to people. Dignity began life during a holiday in Crete in 1985. I bought Sounds magazine at the airport. Morrissey was on the cover and the headline “Home thoughts from abroad” got me thinking about Glasgow. I was living in a tenement flat in Pollokshields, from where I’d see the cleansing department guys sweeping the road. So I started writing about a “worker for the council, has been 20 years” who dreamed of sailing away on a “ship called Dignity”. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Adolescence soundtrack star's 'strange' experience after hit Netflix series

Artist AURORA whose song plays during the close of hit Netflix series Adolescence has expressed how her world has changed since writing the emotional track

Events

3 w. ago Hollyoaks legend 'honoured' as original song appears in Channel 4 soap

EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Clapham, who has played Freddie Roscoe in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks since 2013, has spoken out as his original song Time to Ride played out in the show in a huge 'first' for the actor

Politics