OHMYGOSSIP — Finneas O’Connell is relieved he isn’t as famous as his sister Billie Eilish.
The 26-year-old musician co-wrote and produced his younger sibling’s two albums, ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ and ‘Happier Than Ever’, and worked with her on their Oscar-winning James Bond theme ‘No Time To Die’, and the song ‘What Was I Made For?’ from the ‘Barbie’ movie soundtrack.
Finneas is happy to be in the background whilst Billie, 22, takes the spotlight because her level of fame limits what she can do.
Reflecting on his sister’s life in an interview with Mr Porter, he said: “It’s been eye-opening. Everything that is normal for me is an undertaking for her.
“I have no idea what I’d think about it if I weren’t exposed to the limitations of her life.”
The songwriter also recalled a recent incident where a fan asked him for advice on how to become famous, which prompted him to tell them not to be seduced by the notion.
He said: “She was like, ‘I just want to be in the spotlight.’ And I was like, no, you don’t. You really, really don’t.”
Finneas – who released his own solo LP ‘Optimist’ in 2021 – does occasionally get recognised for his work with Billie, and when it does happen he is always happy to stop and speak.
He said: “You know, maybe one person a day comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, you’re Billie’s brother, right?’ And it’s always nice. But there’s no mob.”
The ‘Let’s Fall in Love for the Night’ singer also revealed that the sibling duo’s next album is “85 per cent done”.
Previously, Billie had admitted she had been going through writer’s block, which had slowed progress on their work.
Finneas explained that the reason behind the block was due to her lack of “connection” to a subject she felt particularly strong about.
He explained: “I don’t think Billie was particularly sure about how she actually felt about the things we were trying to write about.
“Making a thing that you feel really connected to – it can really evade you.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Julian Lennon admits he has been “driven up the wall” by The Beatles song ‘Hey Jude’.
The 60-year-old musician is the son of late Fab Four legend John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia Powell, and Sir Paul McCartney wrote the ballad – originally titled ‘Hey Jules’ – to try and comfort Julian, then five, after John separated from his spouse in May 1968 due to his affair with Japanese artist Yoko Ono.
Julian still remains touched that Paul – who came up with the lyrics as he travelled to see Cynthia and her son at their home in Weybridge in the wake of the split – wrote a song for him, but 45 years later it can be frustrating to constantly hear it and have to speak about the track with fans.
In an interview with Esquire, he said: “It was ‘Hey Jules’ at first, but that didn’t quite sit well rhythmically. ‘Hey Jude’ was a better interpretation.
“Paul wrote it to console Mum, and also to console me. It’s a beautiful sentiment, no question about that, and I’m very thankful – but I’ve also been driven up the wall by it.
“I love the fact that he wrote a song about me and for Mum, but depending on what side of the bed one woke up on, and where you’re hearing it, it can be a good or a slightly frustrating thing. But in my heart of hearts, there’s not a bad word I could say about it.”
Julian, however, emphasised that the song means more to him now that it ever did, because the lyrics about taking a sad situation and making it better are still very poignant to him.
He continued: “Initially I think the concept of the song was about Mum. But then it came to me, and what the hell I was going to be dealing with later on in life.
[Paul] wasn’t wrong … It’s not been smooth sailing in any way, shape, or form. I’ve always put a brave face on for the most part, but it’s been a traumatic life. No question about that. I’ve worked my way through all those episodes and traumas.
“I think that’s the saving grace about getting old – although I hate even using the word old. Age doesn’t mean anything to me. Age, for me, as long as you’re pretty healthy and of sound mind for the most part, is about wisdom and experience and how things relate to you now and what’s important in life now.
“Hey Jude” probably has more importance to me now than it ever did.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Kylie Minogue wants to do a stadium show.
The 55-year-old pop superstar has staged a total of 19 concert tours since beginning her music career in the late 1980s and is currently on a short break from performing her ‘More Than Just a Residency’ show at The Venetian in Las Vegas but thinks it might be the right time to conquer a venue as large as a stadium.
She is quoted by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column as saying: “I don’t know if I am a stadium artist but maybe now is the time to put it on the table. I would love to do that one amazing show and bring it all together.”
The ‘Spinning Around’ legend enjoyed massive success with the release of her hit single ‘Padam Padam’ earlier this year and made a surprise appearance at Capital’s SummerTime Ball at Wembley Stadium to perform the track andwent on to recall that it “felt good” to be performing in front of crowds of thousands at the time.
She added: “When I did Capital’s SummerTime Ball I was just there for a couple of songs but I have to admit it did feel good to be in a stadium.”
Kylie – who is the highest-selling Australian artist of all time with sales of more than 80 million – recently admitted that it “matters” to her a little that she has only ever had success on a sporadic basis in the US despite enjoying consistent success everywhere else.
Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning, she said: “It matters a little. It’s something that I’m working on, it’s part of why I am here and why I am in your land. How much success is enough success?”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Rihanna won’t head out on a full tour until her new music is ready.
The singer stepped away from performing for several years after releasing her 2016 album ‘Anti’ and heading out on tour, but she has since made a return to the spotlight with a performance at the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year and releasing new track ‘Lift Me Up’ from the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ soundtrack but Rihanna is adamant she won’t hit the road again until her next record is finished.
She told Access Hollywood: “Well we’re always gonna go back on tour. [But] I feel I want to do a tour when there’s new music. We already know what that’s gonna be, with the songs that I’ve performed on my last tour. That was a long time ago.
“I feel like it’s only fair that my fans get what they’ve been waiting on, which is new music. After that, lets just like, blow everything up.”
Rihanna has been working on the new album for the last few years, and she’s admitted trying to make the record “perfect” has led to delays.
She added: “I realised that if I keep waiting until this feels right and perfect and better, maybe it’s going to keep taking forever and maybe it’ll never come out and no, I’m not down to that.
“So I want to play. And by play, I mean I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet.”
Previous reports suggested Rihanna is aiming to get the album released in 2024 ahead of a 2025 tour, but the singer has been insisting she has no idea about a possible timeline.
During an appearance on ‘Good Morning America’, she explained: “They [the fans] are waiting. I’m excited to actually put new music out but I don’t have any updates for you on that yet.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Skepta is a surprise fan of ABBA.
The 41-year-old grime rapper was performing a DJ set at Dear Darling nightclub in London’s upscale Mayfair district and stunned revellers by dropping the Swedish pop group’s single ‘Money, Money, Money’ into his set as well as other ABBA hits.
Skepta furthered surprised the crowd by singing along to the 1976 track.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “He was playing some amazing techno house remixes. Then out of nowhere he started playing ABBA songs. He was singing along to the tracks he played and knew all the lyrics to Money, Money, Money.
“Skepta looked totally at home with ABBA and was clearly enjoying it because he was dancing along to them.”
The Tottenham-born rap star showed he has eclectic music tatse back in October when he dropped house track ‘Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute To Amy)’ under his Más Tiempo name. The tune sampled the late Amy Winehouse’s 2007 single ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’.
Skepta was granted permission to sample the song – which was included on her classic album ‘Back To Black’, released in 2006 – by the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
His last studio album was ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’, which came out in 2019, and as well as his Más Tiempo releases Skepta has also collaborated with the likes of Pop Smoke, A$AP Rocky and Slowthai.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Jack Antonoff says working on the new reworked version of ‘1989’ with Taylor Swift was like “finding an old diary”.
The 39-year-old musician was a producer on the original 2014 hit LP and returned to collaborate with Swift, 34, on ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ which was released in October 2023.
Antonoff was so excited to listen back to the masters and hear the techniques he used to layer the tracks back then, admitting it gave him the feeling of stepping back in time just how you would feel if reading back an old journal entry.
In an interview with Vulture, he said: “I would liken it to finding an old diary. There are so many things on so many of those sessions that I was like, ‘Oh, you little freak. Little layering I would do then, ’cause you go through phases, and it made me feel really sweet. That younger version of me that was just piling stuff on, I mean, ‘Out of the Woods’ is just like kitchen sink. That’s the glory of it: As someone who didn’t really have any success as a producer, there was no reason for me to pile all that on other than it was just giving me a lot of joy. And it made this weird, messy symphony and I love it to this day.”
Jack and Taylor’s working relationship began with ‘1989’ and has continued ever since spanning five new studio albums, including 2022’s ‘Midnights’.
The Bleachers member hopes that they will continue to write songs together for as long as the pair both make music, because he always feels as though they are breaking new ground in the studio.
He said: “I’ve never been in a room with her and felt like we were doing anything but treading new ground that we’ve let last for even ten seconds. If we’re not feeling it, we’ll move right the hell along.
“We started working together on ’89′, we did a ton of work on ‘Reputation’, which was so wonderful and intense, and then Lover, we started to do some more strange things. When we did ‘Folklore’, that was obviously a really different angle, and some of the earlier songs, like ‘August’ and ‘Mirrorball’, are some of my favorite things we’ve ever done. You know, writing a song and collaborating with somebody, once you do it, you’re like, ‘Well, who knows if that’ll ever happen again,’ ’cause it’s just magic. With her, I’m constantly taken aback. I’ll joke with her sometimes when we get something crazy, like, ‘Okay, I guess we still got it!’ There’s really nothing for her and I left to do if we’re not completely stretching ourselves out there into the darkness. And that was the whole story with ‘Midnights’ — we did so many things that we had never done before.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Madison Beer tackles misogyny on her song ‘King of Everything’ – in particular “men in positions of power that I feel have maybe abused their power”.
The 24-year-old pop star released her second studio LP ‘Silence Between Songs’ in September, and she has now opened up about the inspiration for many of the lyrics.
Speaking to NME, she said: “There’s a few topics, honestly, within that song.
“There’s the direct relationship I’ve had with a few people – many people – who are those men in positions of power that I feel have maybe abused their power or not been great with it… I don’t quite know how to say it.
“You know, [there are] things I’ve seen and been through where now I’m older, I’m like, ‘That’s crazy’
Beer also noted that the song reflected lonely existence for many who achieved huge fame or enormous wealth.
She added: “Growing up around so many successful businessmen and big celebrities and billionaire managers and seeing how, like, truly lonely a lot of those people were. How you could have all the success and money and whatever in the world, but if you’re a miserable person, you’re gonna be miserable no matter what.
“It was pretty eye-opening to me and something I always recognised.
“So yeah, in the least harsh way possible, we wrote ‘King Of Everything’ [about all of that].”
Beer previously spoke out against the misogynistic culture in the music industry and praised fellow artist Billie Eilish for drawing attention to the struggles in her music.
She said: “I think the topics [Billie] touches on in her music are so prolific.
“She speaks about things that a lot of other artists don’t and are maybe afraid to, which is valid because we’ve all been conditioned to be afraid of speaking about certain things.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins accepts that his falsetto voice can’t last forever.
The glam metal band enjoyed huge success with their first two albums, 2003’s ‘Permission To Land’ and 2005’s ‘One Way Ticket to Hell… and Back’, before splitting up and officially reuniting in 2011.
Their signature sound, as heard on hit single ‘Growing on Me’ and festive classic ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)’, relies on dual lead guitars and Justin’s incomparable high notes, but as he approaches his 50s the singer accepts that his vocal prowess is more than likely going to diminish, but he isn’t losing sleep over it.
Talking to Classic Rock, he said: “I don’t worry about that at all. Twenty years on and I am still doing the songs in the original key. But I also don’t feel like I sing the same way now. I think I sing better. Honestly, I don’t care if I lose my voice. It’s just life, isn’t it? What I do is physical as well, playing a heavy guitar, running around, doing headstands. That can only last so long. I am 48 now.”
Since reuniting, The Darkness – also comprised of Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain and Rufus Tiger Taylor – have recorded five new albums with their last release, seventh studio LP ‘Motorheart’, coming out in 2021.
And Justin has spilled that the group are currently working on album number eight, and he has been looking back to the band’s debut ‘Permission to Land’ for inspiration, 20 years after it came out.
He said: “We are writing a new Darkness album, so now is a good time to listen to it. I like it, but I don’t feel like the same person that recorded it. But I tend to go through an identity crisis every seven to ten years. So that’s like two whole existences in my life.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Charli XCX has been working on new music with her fiance George Daniel.
The 31-year-old pop star – who announced her engagement to the drummer of The 1975 last month – has been in the studio laying down tracks for her next album, and she’s been teaming up with her husband-to-be on the new material.
She told the ‘Spout’ podcast: “We’ve done a couple of things together. We’ve got a few ideas in the works.
“It’s funny, I have never been in a relationship with someone that I’ve worked with, so it’s like a whole new dynamic, but it’s cool.
“There will probably be a couple of songs that he’s worked on with me.”
She has enjoyed seeing George and his bandmate Matty Healy collaborating in the studio, and learning from the way they have a “totally different” process to her.
She explained: “They take a lot of time when they are making a record and generally in the past I have been very fast.
“That used to be part of my process, this spontaneous, instinctual thing.
“Being around them, I have definitely adapted to the idea of sitting on songs, re-working things, playing them to friends, going back and forth and just living with the songs a bit more, so that is one way that my process has been perfected.”
Meanwhile, the ‘Boom Clap’ hitmaker admitted she finds it too “stressful” as a musician being sent other people’s songs ahead of time to get some feedback.
She added: “It is so stressful having another pop star’s music on your phone. It’s like walking around with a bomb in your bag. It is so stressful.”
Charli and George, 33, first worked together in 2021, when they joined forces to record ‘Spinning’.
And the loved-up couple made their romance Instagram official last year, when they shared a series of photos of themselves on holiday.

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OHMYGOSSIP — John Squire has compared Liam Gallagher to Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Sir Mick Jagger, and Johnny Rotten.
The former Stone Roses rocker has a joint album with the ex-Oasis frontman on the way next year, and he says his pal and collaborator is in the “same class” as the music heroes.
Sharing a clip of Liam performing, John said in the Instagram clip and caption: “Liam Gallagher is one of the all time great rock and roll voices. I put him in the same class as Dylan, Lennon, Jagger and Rotten.”
Similarly, days earlier, Liam shared a clip and wrote: “John Squire without a doubt the best guitarist of his generation and in the world in my opinion.”
Liam recently boasted that their upcoming collection is “the best record” since The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’.
The Britpop legend and Beatles fanatic teased that it’s better than the seminal 1966 record – which featured the hits ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’.
When asked if it’s true their album is coming out in 2024, he replied on X: “It’s the best record since revolver (sic).”
When another user said that was a “big statement”, Liam wrote back: “What’s coming your way is bigger I’m being humble it [redacted] all over it.”
Liam had originally hinted on Twitter (before it became X): “Super group incoming LG JS. (sic)”
The pair teaming up comes after Liam surprised fans by bringing John out for his pair of Knebworth shows last June to perform Oasis’ 1995 classic ‘Champagne Supernova’.
Speaking to Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music 1 for the ‘Home Sessions’ series, the ‘Diamond In The Dark’ singer confirmed the pair were going to work together at “some point”.
He said: “Yeah. Serious, man. But we’ve got things to do first, and he’s got things to clear up and that. But yeah, I’m definitely going to do summat at some point.”
Matt asked: “So you’ve actually had the conversation a little bit?”
Liam – whose return to Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire came 26 years after Oasis famously played to a record-breaking 250,000 fans over two nights at the outdoor venue – replied: “Maybe, yeah. Probably did that at Knebworth and that, I think, if I can remember anything about it.
But, no. There’s talk about summat. Maybe. But no rush. He’s my man, I love him. So if he’s got any tunes that need singing, I’m the boy, mate. (sic)”

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OHMYGOSSIP — The Rolling Stones have hired a Tina Turner impersonator as a backing singer for their upcoming US tour.
Sir Mick Jagger, 80, Keith Richards, 80, and Ronnie Wood, 76, will be hitting the road in 2024 to promote their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’, and they will joined by former ‘Tina: The Tina Turner Musical’ star Chanel Haynes.
Chanel teamed up with the Stones at their show in Milan in June 2022, to perform ‘Gimme Shelter’ together.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “The Stones had a very close relationship with Tina and Chanel blew them away when she got up on stage with them.
“Chanel has now been booked as one of their backing singers and will be going out on tour with them across America in the spring.”
Chanel is said to be delighted to be teaming up with the ‘Satisfaction’ hitmakers.
The source added: “It means the world to her and the band were just pleased they could help her out.”
The band’s two-month stadium trek kicks off on 28 April in Houston.
Elsewhere, on the tour, the Stones will stop at the New Orleans Jazz Festival on 2 May, play a MetLife Stadium gig in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 23 May, before it wraps up in Santa Clara, California, on 17 July.
Singing sensation Tina died in May aged 83.
Beforehand, the ‘Simply The Best’ hitmaker claimed she taught Mick how to perfect the “Pony” dance move, which was regularly seen on dancefloors in the 1960s.
Tina once said: “Mick wanted to dance – and I was a dancer – but he never gave me the credit.
“He said his mother taught him how to dance. But we worked with him in the dressing room, me and the girls, and we taught him how to Pony.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has defended the band’s three and a half hour shows.
The ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ rockers typically play around 24 songs a night and keep going for three and a half to four hours, and the 59-year-old musician joked while he’d “love to play shorter”, going the distance is the right move.
Speaking to ‘heavy Music’ on YouTube, he said: “Man, Axl [Rose] loves – you know, I think it’s – goddammit, it’s like, what songs do you take out, you know, if you wanted to play shorter?
“Don’t get me wrong – my body would love it if we only played two-and-a-half-hours. Most bands, like, play two hours. Two hours and 10 minutes or something, and we’re playing three [hours and] thirty [minutes].
“I’d love to play shorter because, just, I’d be in less pain the next day. But, there’s just too many songs, and people stay for the whole thing.
“Nobody leaves, so it’s like, ‘Okay, they must be enjoying this.’ We’ll whip out ‘Coma’ or ‘Locomotive.’ ”
He admitted he sometimes has to make sure frontman Axl is “sure” about the length of the sets.
He added: “We’re whipping out other songs. I really love playing ‘Bad Obsession’, you know? ‘Pretty Tied Up’.
“It’s so great… We’ll play it all. ‘Reckless [Life]’ and ‘Shadow [of Your Love]’.
“I’m looking at Axl, and I’m, like, ‘Yeah, you sure, man? Cause we’ve gotta play again in a couple nights.’ ”
However, Duff heaped praise on Axl’s “monster” longevity, pointed out that the ‘Paradise City’ legends have only had to cancel one show, which was down to the singer’s vocal chords being swollen.
He said: “He’ll still wanna play the show, and the doctor will be, like, ‘You could ruin your voice forever’.
“We canceled one [show] in Glasgow a couple of years ago. We made it up.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Lorde is “not close” to releasing new music.
The ‘Green Light’ hitmaker teased fans by posting a picture of her with headphones on listening to her own music.
She captioned the post on her Instagram Story: “Listening to myself.”
It sparked speculation that new tunes could be on the way soon.
However, Lorde insists that’s not the case and that she is “building stamina for this chapter”.
Commenting on a post on a fan page called Lorde Content on Instagram, she clarified: “We’re not CLOSE close you guys .. i’m just getting so hype n needed to let u know.
“start ur excitement on a low flame and bring it up to a gentle simmer .. we building stamina for this chapter. (sic)”
The New Zealand-born star’s last studio effort was 2021’s ‘Solar Power’.
In September, Lorde revealed she was working on new music whilst living in London.
The pop star revealed in an email newsletter to fans that she has been living in the British capital since May.
She began: “Things feel clear here. I haven’t seen many friends; mostly, I’m alone with my thoughts.
“I go swimming, I go to work, I walk home or take the train, I eat in my kitchen, I go to bed thinking about what I’m making. I’m starting to miss my friends and family, like a vitamin I’m deficient in.”
Lorde also revealed in the same update that she has been battling a mystery illness.
The 27-year-old singer – whose real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor – stopped taking her regular medication after spending more than a decade on it and found herself becoming ill on several occasions.
She penned: “The little yellow pill I took every morning for thousands of mornings since I was 15. My gut isn’t working properly, my skin is worse than ever, I’ve gotten sick half a dozen times.”
The ‘Royals’ hitmaker went on to explain to fans that she has “never really listened” to her body and has used this year to focus on her health after “ignoring” it for so long.
She said: “I realised earlier this year that listening to my body is hard for me, it’s something I never really learned how to do. I’ve been trying to teach myself that this year, but it’s been hard actually, pretty confronting, has made me fully aware of all the times I ignored it or didn’t give it what it needed, shamed it for a fight or flight response, took a handful of pills and pushed through.”
However, despite her woes, the Grammy-winning star is determined to reflect on 2023 with “fondness”.
She said: “I know I’m gonna look back on this year with fondness and a bit of awe, knowing it was the year that locked everything into place, the year that transitioned me from my childhood working decade to the one that comes next — one that even through all this, I’m so excited for. It’s just hard when you’re in it.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Ryan Tedder has teased OneRepublic have lots of songs in the works for 2024.
The songwriter took to social media to tease fans can expect some new material next year, with their next single pretty much “picked”.
He posted to X (formerly Twitter): “Working on New @OneRepublic – been quietly gathering loads of songs for 2024…. Think we have the next single picked.”
The ‘Counting Stars’ group’s last studio album was 2021’s ‘Human’.
However, they have released a slew of singles since then.
Fan-favourite ‘West Coast’ was released in February 2022.
In April, OneRepublic released ‘You Were Loved’ as a single with DJ and producer Gryffin. The following month they dropped ‘I Ain’t Worried’, the second single from the soundtrack for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
In May 2023, they released the track ‘Runaway’.
And, ‘Mirage’ featuring Mishaal Tamer was released in September for the video game ‘Assassin’s Creed Mirage’.
The 44-year-old star – who has produced and co-written tracks for the likes of Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, Adele and Camila Cabello – previously insisted he never tries to write hits for OneRepublic, because his own music has to come from an authentic place.
He told Music Week: “Whether it’s Lil Nas X or Ed Sheeran or bands like us, people want to hear your story. So, by 2017 I was thinking ‘well, I’ve had 10 years of singing about my personal life and my thoughts on stuff…’ My day job is to write hits for other artists, but I’ve never sat down and thought ‘let’s write a hit for One Republic’. Everything we’ve ever put out has just been a reflection, or a reaction, to me living life. So if you look at it that way it’s like, if it’s not raining, the crops aren’t going to grow. So for me, I have to experience rain. I have to feel things, go through things, they have to land in my lap authentically. So like the inspiration for the album is two years of experiences in life that felt authentic enough to then justify a song.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Gene Simmons has reassured fans that the KISS avatars will “get better”.
The veteran rockers hung up their platform boots after performing their final concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 2, but they surprised fans at the end of the gig by debuting digital versions of themselves created by the teams behind the lucrative ‘ABBA Voyage’ hologram show.
And during a Q+A at Electric Lady Studios in New York, co-vocalist and bass player Gene, 74, claimed millions of dollars are being pumped into the project.
He told one fan: “There’s so much being planned, even beyond my comprehension. But they’re spending, oh, about 200 million [dollars] to take it to the next level.”
He said of ABBA’s first-of-its-kind show, he added: “You can’t tell if they’re there, right there, like that.”
It comes after former KISS member Ace Frehley slammed the ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ group’s avatars.
The 72-year-old guitarist told Rock Antenne: “I don’t get this avatar thing that they’re gonna do.”
He continued: “I mean, I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it, you know, was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That’s it. It’s always been that way and always will be.”
KISS declared the avatars the start of a “new era” in a video posted online after their final concert.
Gene said: “We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamt of before. The technology is going to make [rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist] Paul [Stanley] jump higher than he’s ever done before … If you think you are going to get rid of us then that’s not going to happen.”
The band has yet to confirm their exact plans for the avatars, but Paul said it’s a very exciting project.
He explained: “I think we’ve transcended over the years being human beings and here we are becoming immortal and it’s very exciting for us … We can’t maintain this [band] indefinitely but you [avatar-makers] can.”
The KISS avatars were made by George Lucas’ special effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and financed by Swedish conglomerate Pophouse Entertainment – the organisations which put together ABBA’s digital stage show.
Grady Cofer, visual effects supervisor at ILM, insisted debuting the KISS avatars at their final show is just a glimpse of exciting things to come.
He told Fast Company: ” “This is the sneak peek as the band [KISS] crosses over from the physical world to the digital.”
Pophouse CEO Per Sundin added: “Is it a KISS concert in the future? Is it a rock opera? Is it a musical? A story, an adventure? These four individuals already have superpowers. We want to be as open as possible.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Richard Ashcroft is headlining Kew the Music 2024.
The former Verve frontman is set to close out the summer music extravaganza at Kew Gardens on Sunday, July 14.
Tickets for the show will go on pre-sale from December 19 at 10am, and general sale on December 20 from 10am via www.kewthemusic.org.
The line-up this year also includes MIKA, JLS and Passenger.
The ‘Grace Kelly’ hitmaker, ‘Beat Again’ boy band and ‘Let Her Go’ hitmaker will play at the picturesque setting of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew on July 9, July 12 and July 11, respectively.
They will each be joined by special guests.
Further acts will be confirmed in due course for July 10 and July 13.
Meanwhile, Ashcroft is also set to play the picturesque Englefield House in Berkshire, England, this summer.
The ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ hitmaker is playing the grounds of the Elizabethan country house and estate nestled in South East England on July 22, as part of the Heritage Live concert series.
The Ivor Novello winner will be joined by the Britpop group Ocean Colour Scene.
Gig-goers will no doubt get to hear Verve classics such as ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’, alongside Richard’s acclaimed solo tunes.
Head to axs.com/heritagelive for remaining tickets.

KEW THE MUSIC 2024 line-up:
Monday 8th July – An Evening in Conversation with Monty Don
Tuesday 9th July – MIKA plus guests
Wednesday 10th July – TO BE ANNOUNCED
Thursday 11th July – Passenger plus guests
Friday 12th July – JLS plus guests
Saturday 13th July – TO BE ANNOUNCED
Sunday 14th July – An Evening with Richard Ashcroft plus guests

Source: IconInsider.com