Taylor Swift

In a recent interview, Noel Gallagher shared the reason he thinks so many people seem to inexplicably hate U2’s Bono. According to him, “nobody likes a do-gooder”, and Bono is certainly well known for his work with the likes of Amnesty International, DATA and the One Campaign among others.

Noel added in his chat with Absolute Radio’s Andy Bush and Richie Firth: “That’s why people like me, I’m a do-badder.” I think you’ll find you have your critics too, Noel!

Anyway, here are six do-gooding musicians that everyone loves, just to prove that philanthropy hasn’t fallen out of favour.

Continue reading: Sorry Noel Gallagher! Here Are Six Do-gooders People DO Like

It's fair to say that the 2021 Brit Awards show was an event like no other. Not only was it the first major indoor live event in over a year (thanks to COVID-19 restrictions), it also saw the most women taking home awards in BRIT history.

Taylor Swift at the 2021 Brit Awards / Photo credit: Ian West/PA Wire/PA Images

Dua Lipa rocked the night with a win for both British Female Solo Artist and British Album of the Year for her second album Future Nostalgia, but it was Little Mix who made history by being the first all-female group to win Best British Group six months after the release of their sensational Confetti album.

Continue reading: Who Made History At The 2021 Brit Awards?

With a great deal of excitement, a lot of relief and some anxiousness, the biggest night on the UK's musical calendar went ahead as the BRIT's 2021 celebrated the stars and artists that have made the biggest impact in music over the last year. As part of the Government's pilot scheme to get events back up and running safely the O2 once again hosted the BRIT's, not in front of the usual 20,000 fans and invited guests, but in front of an audience made up of 2,500 care workers and 1,500 music industry related others, with each of them having had to provide a negative CoVID test.

Taylor Swift at the 2021 BRIT AWARDS - Photo Credit, Ian West, PA Images.

Jack Whitehall was back again, hosting the first major event at the O2 since March 2020. After a brief Line Of Fire themed intro, Foreplay, aka Coldplay, were first up performing their brand new track, Higher Power, on a floating barge in the Thames opposite the arena. With holograms and pyrotechnics galore Chris and his band lit up the night sky to get the show off to a suitably stellar start. 

Continue reading: The BRIT Awards 2021: In No Particular Order, The Winners Are.....

April 2021 may have been one of the coldest in 60 years, but there were still enough hot releases to warm our hearts and fuel our fires. Taylor Swift released the first of six albums that she is set to re-record with her version of Fearless, Demi Lovato made a welcome come back with her seventh album, Dancing with the Devil... the Art of Starting Over and Wolf Alice delivered an incendiary second single, Smile, from their forthcoming album, Blue Weekend. Lana Del Rey, on trend with the colour palette, announced she would release her second album of the year, following up Chemtrails Over The Country Club, with Blue Banisters on July 4th. Olivia Rodrigo released a strong follow-up single to her huge hit, drivers licence whilst Billie Eilish dropped one of her weakest singles in years. Rapper DMX sadly died after suffering a heart-attack and AJ Tracey flouted CoVID rules as he attempted an eventually abandoned meet-and-greet, but none of them made our top five. Here's who did. 

H.E.R. - Photo credit, Chris Pizzello, PA Images.

H.E.R. - Fight For You. 

Continue reading: April 2021 Favourites: We Found 'Californian Soil' To Be Sublime, 'Introvert' Extraordinary And 'Fight For You' A Fitting Oscar Winner

Whether you are on her side or not, it seems that Jk Rowling is a huge point of contention for people across the LGBTQ+ community for her repeated inflammatory statements on gender identity. Many have gone so far as to call her a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), but after she was labelled a "transphobic bigot" on the radio show The Last Word with Matt Cooper, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) have upheld a complaint that the comment was unfair. 

JK Rowling at the 'Finding The Way Home' World Premiere / Photo Credit: Sonia Moskowitz/Zuma Press/PA Images

Naturally, the anti-Rowling community have reacted with anger that she can be seen as anything other than a "transphobic bigot", since her past comments have deeply hurt a huge majority of the trans community, especially in light of her Harry Potter books being such a big part of many people's lives and identity.

Continue reading: What I Am Needs No Excuses: Music To Empower Anyone To Be Themselves [Playlist]

Can you believe we're nearly into the fourth month of the year? So much has happened in such a short period of time. We have a new (stumbling) US president, the old stumbling US president has been banned from Twitter and Facebook, Kim and Kanye have split, Harry and Meghan have revealed all to Oprah, Wales have been crowned the Six Nations Champions, the Mars rover landed successfully and the Space X rocket took off, landed successfully and then blew up! (Oh, and we've had a boat stuck in a canal!) In music we've had a record setting Grammy Awards, new album's from Lana Del Rey, Foo Fighters and The Pretty Reckless and fascinating documentaries featuring among others, Billie Eilish, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. So far 2021 has not been uneventful and April looks set to continue that trend. As well as Easter eggs and The Oscars to look forward to we've hand picked these musical treats for you too.

Taylor Swift - Fearless (Taylor's Version).

Continue reading: Upcoming Releases: You'd Be Foolish Not To Check Out Our April Highlights

On a night when barely anything was normal at the 63rd Grammy Awards, history was made as Beyoncé  not only won four awards but also became the most decorated female artist of all time with a collective 28 awards. Beyoncé  was reported to be a no show prior to the awards, much to the dismay of the organisers who had ideally wanted her to perform. However, as the evening got underway and the TV cameras panned across the room, it was something of a surprise to see both Beyoncé and Jay-Z seated at one of the socially distanced tables. Beyoncé was the big news, and the big winner on the night; her fourth award meant that she surpassed the total number of awards by a female artist, an honour previously held by Country singer Alison Krauss with 27. One of the biggest losers on the night, no doubt to the horror of Sir Elton John, was Phoebe Bridgers. Phoebe was up for four awards including Best New Artist and Best Rock Song, sadly she didn't win in any category. Elton, talking to Phoebe Bridgers on his Apple Music 1 'Rocket Hour' show ahead of the Grammy's, had said "If you don’t win at least one, I’m going to hit someone, OK?" We are yet to see whether he has! For now let's see who won what. 

Beyoncé.  

Continue reading: The Grammy Awards 2021: Beyoncé Wins Four But Sir Elton John Might Still Hit Someone

"With great regret, we must announce that this year's Glastonbury Festival will not take place," came the not altogether unexpected announcement from the Glastonbury organisers. For the second year in a row the biggest festival in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world, will now not take place. Michael and Emily Eavis communicated their decision to pull the plug on this years event via a Twitter post on Thursday 21st January.   

With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. Tickets for this year will roll over to next year. Full statement below and on our website. Michael & Emily pic.twitter.com/SlNdwA2tHd

— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) January 21, 2021

Continue reading: Glastonbury 2021 Cancelled: The First Of Many Festivals, Or Just The Biggest Casualty?

The New Year is almost here, and we've never been more relieved or felt the need to celebrate more. Of course, our celebrations will be dampened by social distancing regulations, but we reckon a good playlist is all we need to ring in a very welcome 2021.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

1. Thank U, Next - Ariana Grande

Continue reading: Time For A Fresh Start? Here's Our Ultimate New Year Playlist

While we've been forced to party in the comfort of our own living rooms over the course of 2020, that doesn't mean we haven't had fun. The pop world has continued to push out hit after hit, many of which has kept smiles on our faces on the days when we didn't think it were even possible...

Cardi B at the Fashion Nova x Cardi B Collection launch party 2019 / Photo Credit: Image Press Agency/SIPA USA/PA Images

1. WAP - Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion

Continue reading: From WAP To Say So: 10 Pop Songs That Made Our Year