61 m. ago ‘If all I cared about was a career, I’d make listenable music’: Joost Klein on Eurovision, scandal and having the last laugh

The wild child ‘gabber pop’ rapper was booted off last year’s song contest. But his song Europapa eclipsed the winner’s – and he’s about to tour the world in his gigantic shoulder padsJoost Klein is arguably the first artist to triumph at the Eurovision song contest without actually performing in the final. In May last year, the 27-year-old Dutch wild child “gabber pop” rapper was disqualified from the world’s largest live music event just hours before he was due to perform Europapa to 170 million TV viewers around the globe.This song – a chaotic but catchy ode to the father he lost as a teenager, and to the free movement of people ethos his father instilled in him – was touted as a favourite. But instead of gearing up for his big moment, Klein spent seven hours that day sitting in his changing room in a reflex-blue, Ursula-von-der-Leyen-meets-Vivienne-Westwood suit with gigantic shoulder pads, fearing he was about to be arrested – on live TV – over a “backstage incident” after the ...

Politics

3 d. ago Lady Gaga: Every song ranked, from Born This Way to Abracadabra

As modern music’s most entertaining chameleon embraces pop chaos once again on her new album ‘Mayhem’, Adam White has ranked every song she’s ever released (but not the ones she did with Tony Bennett because, with all due respect, no one has time for that)

Politics

4 d. ago UK city pub fined over £20k for blasting out ‘loud pop music with a heavy bass'

An East London pub has been fined after noise complaints from a local, claiming there was 'loud pop music with a heavy bass' - council warnings were continuously ignored

Economics

4 d. ago Can’t Get You Out of My Head: King Charles reveals love of Kylie’s music

Monarch shares soundtrack to his life, including disco, reggae and Afrobeats, to celebrate Commonwealth DayKylie has a legion of fans around the globe, but it might come as a surprise to many that the king is one of those who can’t get her out of his head.The princess of pop, alongside Bob Marley and Grace Jones, are among the music artists beloved of Charles, it was revealed on Friday as part of Commonwealth Day celebrations, which falls on Monday. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago London pub fined £20k by council for playing 'pop music with loud bass'

The Dockers’ Inn in Wapping was taken to court after a local complained about noise

Economics

7 d. ago ‘Together in creativity for peace!’ Sain, the indie label pushing Welsh music forward for 56 years

It’s gone from a cowshed to a cultural institution. As its 3,000-album archive gets digitised, different generations explain how Sain deepened Welsh identityOne of the oldest indie labels in Britain sits down a muddy lane on an old RAF site, less than a mile from the sea, half an hour from the mountains of Eryri. Founded in 1969, Sain – meaning sound in Welsh, pronounced (in English) like “sign” – is an unusual label, host to a remarkable treasure trove of music. And now it is on a drive to explore its past, present and future.It has recently launched a new anthology series, Stafell Sbâr Sain (Sain’s Spare Room), which gets up-and-coming Welsh musicians to record in its vintage analogue studio. Tyrchu Sain (Digging Sain) is a new album by Don Leisure (AKA producer Aly Jamal) which remixes the label’s 56-year-old catalogue into mesmerising new shapes. Meanwhile the label’s archive of Welsh-language music – more than 3,000 albums of pop, psych, prog, punk, funk, folk, opera, choral mu...

Events

7 d. ago Anitta writes song and cheers for samba school celebrating her Afro

Superstar Anitta has won over pop music fans in Brazil and abroad, even more so since she added English and Spanish singing to her seductive dancing and bold lyrics

Culture

8 d. ago Woman dies after collapsing inside Wetherspoons pub in Truro city centre

Emergency services were called to the Try Dowr JD Wetherspoons pub in Lemon Quay, Truto, at 1.50pm on Saturday after a woman collapsed. She was pronounced dead at the scene

Events

9 d. ago Charli xcx, Jade and Ezra Collective’s Brit awards cap a vintage year for adventurous pop | Alexis Petridis

Playing music that is as smart as it is successful, Brit winners made articulate calls for artist development – while host Jack Whitehall was brilliantly riskyThe Brits has long been in the business of underlining success; upsets and shock wins aren’t really the point. If they seemed moderately more exciting in 2025 than in years past, that’s partly because Jack Whitehall is a better, riskier, funnier host than anyone else offered the job in recent years – he mocked Stormzy for his promotion of McDonald’s, made a joke about amyl nitrate and called Coldplay “the musical missionary position” – and because 2024 was a vintage year for mainstream pop, dominated by music that was characterful and hugely successful.If Charli xcx – and producer AG Cook – hadn’t been lavishly rewarded for her agenda-setting album Brat, you would have wondered what had gone wrong: likewise Chappell Roan, whose ardent emotion both in and out of the recording studio makes her one of pop’s most cheering recent d...

Events

9 d. ago Inside George Best's former pub where landlord's issue has punters asking 'is that it?'

There is a pub in Manchester city centre named The Circus Tavern which has been dubbed Europe's smallest boozer – an establishment where George Best used to drink at

Politics

1 week ago Myles Smith interview: the Brits Rising Star award winner on his new superstardom

Myles Smith had the biggest song of last year with Stargazing, and with a new album and tour, and a Brits Rising Star award, we caught up with him to ask how sudden success feels

Events

1 week ago Gracie Abrams, the year’s biggest pop star: ‘Trump has only been in office a month, and everybody is more at risk’

After dodging toxic fans, ‘nepo baby’ jibes and her own projectile vomit, the 25-year-old has just spent eight weeks at UK No 1. She explains why she’s now writing about our dark, uncertain futureOn a video call from a hotel room in Hamburg, Gracie Abrams is expounding on the virtues of decoupling yourself from social media and living a life offline. “You can literally do so much when you’re not scrolling!” she enthuses. “You can retain more information; everything gets lighter. You have a greater capacity to be more present, to be there for the people in your life, to read a book that’s going to inspire your next album, or go on a hike and breathe air instead of sitting in a dark room on fucking Instagram. I’m doing lots of, like, tactile stuff, staying off social media,” she adds. “Needlepoint and shit like that. I’m just trying to make things to have some tangible evidence of having lived this year.”Of course, this is nothing the world hasn’t heard before: we’re well used to bein...

Politics

1 week ago 2025 dubbed 'Year of Concerts' with performances from Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa and Rihanna

Rihanna's rumoured Glastonbury appearance and other scheduled performances from major pop stars has left music fans believing that this year will be the year of great concerts

Politics

2 w. ago Rihanna teases ‘unexpected’ new music as Glastonbury rumours swirl

It’s been nearly a decade since the pop star put out new music

Politics

2 w. ago ‘I’ve finally cracked it’: Rihanna confirms new album is officially underway and will be ‘unexpected’

It’s been nearly a decade since the pop star put out new music

Politics

2 w. ago Why IS Trump putty in Putin's hands? Rumours of Russian kompromat have been dismissed as 'fake news' by US president so what is the real reason he's cosying up to Putin?

In 2013 Miss Universe, American Olivia Culpo , travelled to Moscow to film a music video with a Russian pop star who was the son of a billionaire real estate mogul with ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Politics

2 w. ago Pop Rich List 2025: Here are the 21 wealthiest pop singers in the world

None of these megastars will be worried about turning the thermostat up on the central heating.

Politics

2 w. ago Spice Girls' Emma Bunton and Mel B 'reunite for surprise music project alongside pop legends'

Emma Bunton and Mel B reportedly flew to Seoul in November last year to take part in a reality show, collaborating with K-pop idols.

Politics

2 w. ago Benny Blanco stuns fiancée Selena Gomez with his bizarre bathing rituals involving 'death realizations'

On December 10, the 36-year-old music producer proposed to the 32-year-old 'Texican' pop star after 18 months of dating, but they originally met in 2008 when she was only 16

Events

3 w. ago Woman jailed after beating her tiny dog and assaulting four people who tried to stop her

Ketija Bilinska, 57, was at the Dog and Bone pub in the city center on November 8 when she lost her temper with the Chinese crested dog she had brought along.

Events