OHMYGOSSIP — Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ has broken the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing music tour.
The ‘Anti-Hero’ hitmaker, 33, has become the first artist to exceed a billion dollars, having earned $1.04 billion (£840 million) for the tour so far, which will wrap after 151 shows in December 2024, according to Pollstar.
The 33-year-old record-breaker has beaten Sir Elton John’s five-year ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ farewell tour, which saw the 76-year-old music legend rake in $939 million (£749 million) for 328 shows.
What’s more, the chart-topper has managed to earn more than Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen combined.
The ‘Break My Soul’ hitmaker’s 56-date ‘Renaissance World Tour’ trumped Madonna’s previous tour record with $579 million (£468 million) in revenue.
So far, 72,000 people have attended each concert with the concert grossing more than $17 million per show.
According to the report, Taylor has also made $200 million from merchandise so far.
The Grammy winner has been smashing records left right and centre.
Taylor – who was recently crowned Time magazine’s Person of the Year – is Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally in 2023.
The streaming giant revealed its annual Wrapped campaign for the past year and the ‘Blank Space’ hitmaker overtook Bad Bunny to take the title, bringing an end to three years of dominance for the Puerto Rican rapper.
Taylor surpassed 26.1 billion streams worldwide since the start of the year, and she was the most-streamed artist in the US and the UK.
‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ was named the biggest-selling album of the year and Taylor broke the Billboard 200 record for the most albums charting at the same time when 10 of her records charted simultaneously.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Sam Ryder had to make a “damage-control video” after scrapping the promo for ‘You’re Christmas To Me’.
The 34-year-old singer refused to confirm reports he originally dressed up as Wizzard frontman Roy Wood – who is best known for festive classic ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’ – in the music video for his latest single, but he admitted “no one will ever see” the original short film and an alternative had to be put together at the “very last minute”.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “We ain’t said anything, I can’t confirm or deny.
“All I can say is, no one will ever see it, because of reasons beyond our control.
“But there is another video coming that we had to do very last minute.
“It’s a damage-control video. I made it in about eight hours. But the original, I can’t confirm it even exists.”
While Sam didn’t explain why he had to get rid of the original video, it has been suggested Roy may not have been happy about it.
Meanwhile, the ‘Space Man’ singer feels “blessed” to have a very busy 2024 ahead of him.
He said: “We’ve got album number two that we’re writing, it’s gonna be coming out.
“We don’t get much Christmas holiday on this team. We’re gonna be working up until the 23rd I think. And then we’re off again on January 6 for the Emmys.
“’Fought + Lost’ is nominated for an Emmy. So fingers crossed for that.
“And yeah, festival season is gonna be bonkers. It’s just a year full of blessings.”
While Sam is in the running for Christmas number one, he recently backed The Pogues and Kirsty McCall’s classic festive hit ‘Fairytale of New York’ to take the top spot following the death of frontman Shane MacGowan.
He told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “I’ve got love in my heart for the ‘Fairytale of New York’ situation.
“That’s never got to Number One and that would be a gorgeous moment, especially now Shane MacGowan’s left us.
“There’s a lot of tragedy wrapped up in that song – two gorgeous voices no longer with us and taken too soon. That’s me taking a lovely romantic view on it.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Vampire Weekend have finished work on their new Raga-style album.
The rockers have been busy in the studio putting together the the follow-up to their 2019 record ‘Father of the Bride’ and they have now confirmed the currently unnamed album – known as “LP5” is ready to go.
In the latest edition of the band’s newsletter – The Quarterly Report – bassist Chris Baio ended the note by declaring: “So I’d like to conclude this update with the most exciting news: LP5 IS DONE.”
No more details about the album were given, but it’s expected to be released next year.
Over the summer, it was revealed the record was inspired by Indian classical music framework, Raga.
Drummer Chris Tomson explained frontman Ezra Koenig had Raga singing lessons and it inspired 10 new tracks which he boasted are their “best yet”.
In previous edition of the newsletter, Chris wrote: “Ezra [Koenig] took a raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan and wrote what he considers to be 7 of his all-time top 10 best songs.”
He continued: “I personally found an immense peace and pleasure from creating with the guys like we had in the Ruggles days. The vibe was strong.” Chris added: “I feel like it just might be our best yet. 10 songs, no skips.”
In 2021, Ezra revealed the indie band recorded new music in England and Los Angeles but the work was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to Mark Hoppus on his Apple Music Hits show, Ezra said: “It is crazy that it’s been three years. I mean, about a year and a half of it doesn’t count because of COVID.
“But, yeah. We’ve been working on music and we were just recording in England for a while, now back in LA, working with everybody and, yeah, I think we’re … I’m always hesitant to… Sometimes I oversell how close we are with the record because who really knows? But we almost have an album’s worth of songs.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Miley Cyrus has restarted talks for a Las Vegas residency.
The 31-year-old pop star recently announced that she was not planning to tour any time soon but is now said to have restarted negotiations to follow in the footsteps of Adele, Britney Spears, and Celine Dion with a residency concert in Sin City after a “higher offer” was made.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre Column: “Miley has been in talks about making her Sin City debut for quite some time. She initially declined an offer from MGM but while she hates life on the road, she still loves being on stage. Talks resumed recently after a higher offer was put on the table.”
If the ‘Flowers’ hitmaker accepts the offer, she will be taking over from U2 at the Sphere but the insider went on to add that the main problem is that because bosses paid the ‘With Or Without You’ rockers a reported £800,000 per show, artists are now “digging their heels in” in the hopes of getting a high fee.
She added: “One of the problems bosses have is that because they paid so much for U2, other artists have taken notice and are digging their heels in when it comes to their fees.”
Miley started touring at the age of just 14 when she embarked on the ‘Best of Both Worlds Tour’ – in which she starred as both herself and her Disney Channel alter-ego Hannah Montana – and went on to stage a string of further tours over the years.
But after performing a small set of dates for the ‘Attention Tour’ in 2022, the ‘Wrecking Ball’ singer – who has not performed in the UK in almost a decade – explained that while she feels “more connected” to fans than ever, life on the road is not what is “best” for her at this point in time.
She wrote on Instagram: “For clarity, I feel connected to my fans NOW more than ever. When I win we win. Even if I don’t see them face to face every night at a concert, my fans are felt deeply in my heart. I’m constantly creating and innovating new ways I can stay connected to the audience I love – without sacrificing my own essentials.
“Performing for YOU has been some of the best days of my life and we will continue this journey together as we have for the last almost two decades.
“This has nothing to do with a lack of appreciation for the fans and everything to do with I simply don’t want to get ready in a locker room. Which is the reality of life on the road.
“These looks I’ve been turning don’t travel well. The archival looks don’t fold. I just don’t want to sleep on a moving bus. It isn’t what’s best for me right NOW.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — SZA got into music to make a point to her ex-fiance.
Most aspiring artists want to have a chart hit or become rich and famous, but for the ‘Kill Bill’ hitmaker it was about showing her anonymous former partner, whom she admits she was “co-dependant” on, that she doesn’t need him to make it in life.
The ‘Good Days’ hitmaker has had huge success with her acclaimed LP, ‘SOS’, which references her complicated relationship with her ex.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, she explained: “Some people choose music as a career, and they feel very certain about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, but I was never quite certain, and I really only did music to prove a point.
She continued: “When I started making music, it was to my ex-fiancé because he was paying for everything. My food, my clothes, where I lived, and he was eight years my senior, so I was so co-dependent.
“And he was so talented, and like, he’s a designer — so brilliant. His ex-girlfriends were all lawyers and businesswomen and artists that went to [Rhode Island School Of Design], and all these things, right? And you know, I’m a college dropout. I’m still bartending at the strip club, so it’s giving — like, I felt like I lacked value. So, when I started trying to make music, it was this thing that I didn’t have to try at but was randomly good at because I’ve always written poetry and always felt emotional.”
After winning a Grammy, going platinum, and meeting her idols, SZA says she has achieved all of her goals and anything else is just a bonus now.
She said: “The business side is scary, but on the creative side, it’s kind of just like, ‘Nah, I don’t have any more goals, so I might as well just try at this point.'”
SZA, 34, went on: “I caught up to that on [2017 debut album] Ctrl.
“I don’t have any more goals, and that sounds terrible, but career-wise … I keep saying that — nobody believes me — but it’s just like you don’t understand. These are my goals.”
Sharing her biggest achievements, she said: “I have already gone platinum — I didn’t think I would ever go platinum — I sold a bunch of records. I got to meet Stevie Wonder, I got to meet Beyoncé and work with her, I got to meet Frank Ocean. My mom came and my dad came to all these cool countries to see me perform. I’ve had sold-out shows, I got to headline a festival.
“Like, what else do I want?
“I’m nominated for Grammys. I’ve won a Grammy. I’m done, for me, personally.
“Anything past this is so much more than I wanted, thought of, dreamed of.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Garbage’s Shirley Manson had to break up a fight at the band’s festive concert.
The ‘Stupid Girl’ singer, 57, spotted an altercation just three songs into their 30-minute set at Audacy’s KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert this past weekend, and told the security staff to do something swiftly to resolve the situation.
Shirley, who was mid-song performing ‘Wolves’ at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday (09.12.23), ranted (expletives redacted): “Knock this off, girls. Knock this off right now. What is wrong with you?”
She went on: “I don’t know ladies, I don’t know what the story is; quite frankly, I don’t care. There’s enough [going on] in this world… I don’t care who it is. I want it to stop. Do we not have enough going on in the world without going aggro at some Christmas party?”
Speaking to the venue’s staff, she shouted: “Separate them right now. Security, I’d like you to get in there and find out what is going on. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Somebody has lost something, whether it’s a contact lens, glasses or a phone. Let’s sort it out.”
Annoyed that they were wasting their short set, she added: “Meanwhile, we’ve got 30 minutes on this stage and you’re eating into our time. So get it sorted. I don’t have patience for this.”
The band was able to resume the gig and played a further three songs.
The woman caught up in the spat, called Amanda, claims Shirley hadn’t witnessed what sparked the bout and claimed a “drunk” female fan shoved her girlfriend to get to the front.
She told KROQ’s ‘The Kevin / Ally Show’ on Monday (11.12.23): “It wasn’t what Shirley thought it was.
“It was actually me defending myself and my girlfriend because there was this one girl who was just torpedoing her way through the front rows. And when she came in and she’s pushing her way through, and she’s pushing my girlfriend out of the way and then her hands in my face, I’m gonna defend myself.”
Amanda claims that, in her defence, she punched the girl in the face and knocked her earring out.
She continued: “I didn’t mean to interrupt the show. I’m a huge Garbage fan and I was really [annoyed] that that happened. Everyone in the audience was so chill and all of a sudden you have this rude drunk girl coming through like a tornado.”
The gig-goer thanked Shirley for trying to help and admitted: “I felt like I got yelled at by my mom.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Megan Thee Stallion has inked a distribution deal with Warner Music Group – whilst retaining ownership of her music.
The ‘Cobra’ rapper has managed to secure a contract with a major label that can enable her to still be an independent artist to some degree, Billboard reports.
The 28-year-old rapper released her previous LPs, 2020’s ‘Good News’ and 2022’s ‘Traumazine’ on 300 Entertainment and 1501 Certified, but in October, she told fans she no longer had a record deal so would be bringing out her next record independently.
Speaking on Instagram Live, she said: “This part of my album is definitely very much funded by Megan Thee Stallion because y’know… we tryna get off… y’all know what’s the tea.
“But I have no label right now and we’re doing everything funded by Megan Thee Stallion’s pocket. The budget is coming from me … Hot Girl Productions. It’s all coming straight from Megan Thee Stallion – Megan Thee Stallion[‘s] brain, wallet… we in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.
“We’re really doing our big one and I’m so excited. We’re doing something for the first time independently since it was just me and my mama. I’m so excited ’cause it’s literally just me this go round until we sign to a new label. But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself.”
Megan – who previously took legal action against 1501 Certified Entertainment for allegedly trying to “interfere” with her control over her music and for allegedly trying to keep her locked into a contract – recently teased her next record will mark a new chapter.
She told Billboard: “It’s definitely coming very soon. I’m really excited about this chapter of my life because I feel like I’m finally closing all the old chapters, and now I’m starting with a blank slate. Very fresh, very new. I think Thee Hotties are gonna be so excited. I’m trying different things. I got a lot of things that I produced with Ju and with some new producers.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — SZA has announced a concert as part of Apple Music Live this week.
The chart-topping star will play all the hits, including ‘Kill Bill’, ‘Nobody Gets Me’ and ‘Snooze’, alongside classics including ‘Drew Barrymore’, ‘Broken Clocks’ and ‘Love Galore’.
The special ‘SOS Tour’ performance is filmed at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York, and will premiere on Wednesday (13.12.23) at 7pm PST /10pm EST/3pm GMT exclusively on Apple Music and Apple TV+.
Apple Music’s Global Head of Hip Hop and R’n’B Ebro Darden said: “SZA is one the most streamed artists of 2023 with only her second full-length album, so we are elated to have her ‘SOS Tour’ be a part of our 2023 season of Apple Music Live.
“The show is, of course, incredible just like her music, her songwriting and her desire to give us, the fans, so much amazing content this year. Thank You SZA!”
The Grammy winner has also sat down with Zane Lowe for an interview about the show and the highs and lows of her career so far on Apple Music 1.
In a preview, she said: “I love connecting with people in the crowd when I feel like it’s really me and you right now. And I go eye to eye with so many people during this show, and it’s something about tour that it makes the love real, and tangible.”
The full chat will go live at 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm GMT.
Meanwhile, SZA has dropped teasers for her extended version of her acclaimed album ‘SOS’, which ended up turning into a “whole project” of its own.
It’s titled ‘LANA’ and looks poised to be dropping on Friday (15.12.23) after the star wore a jersey with the number 15 on it in the artwork posted to her Instagram on Monday (11.12.23).
She told fans at a free Brooklyn concert in September: “The deluxe is a whole ’nother album. It’s called ‘Lana.’ It’s seven to 10 songs and it’ll be out this fall.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Beyonce has been accused of copying Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama’s robot designs for her ‘Renaissance’ tour.
The designer has insisted he would have happily worked with the ‘Break My Soul’ hitmaker on her futuristic accessory that he has compared to his work for The Weeknd’s shows, which featured a giant version of one of his femme robot dolls.
Alongside Beyonce’s robot headpiece and his designs on Instagram, he wrote: “Yo @beyonce… You should have asked me ‘officially’ so that I could make much better work for you as like my man @theweeknd.”
The comments section is filled with mixed opinions, with many claiming both artists have been inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 film ‘Metropolis’.
Beyonce is yet to comment on Sorayama’s accusation.
Meanwhile, Tina Knowles recently called out the “stupid, ignorant, hating racist statements” after her daughter Beyonce was accused of lightening her skin.
The mother of the 42-year-old Grammy winner was left furious that a video was made suggesting her daughter tried to make herself look white at the premiere of her ‘Renaissance’ movie, insisting those who make the remarks are just jealous.
She began a lengthy response alongside the video on Instagram: “Came across this today and decided to post it after seeing all of the stupid ignorant self, hating racist statements about her, lightening her skin, and wearing platinum hair wanting to be white. She does a film, called the renaissance, where the whole theme is silver with silver hair, a silver carpet, and suggested silver attire and you bozos decide that she’s trying to be a white woman and is bleaching her skin? .. How sad is it that some of her own people continue the stupid narrative with hate and jealousy. Duh, she wore silver hair to match her silver dress as a fashion statement clown. . ALIEN Superstar duh! (sic)”
Tina, 69, also hit out at the comments about the ‘Cuff It’ hitmaker having platinum hair and said Black women have been rocking the style for years.
She said: “What’s really most disappointing is that the some Black people yes you bozos that’s on social media. Lying and faking and acting like you’re so ignorant that you don’t understand That black women have worn platinum hair since the Etta James days. I just went and looked at all the beautiful talented black celebrities who have worn platinum hair and it has been just about everyone of them at one time or another. Are they all trying to be white? (sic)”
Beyonce’s mom says every time her daughter has success there are always “haters” trying to pull her down with their “racism, “sexism”, and “double standards”.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Justin Hawkins still feels “guilt” over The Darkness breaking up.
The ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ singer took a moment to reflect on the glam rock band’s rise and fall from grace as he battled addiction issues after the huge success of their 2004 debut album ‘Permission To Land’.
During the group’s ongoing UK tour to celebrate two decades of the record, he told fans in Manchester on Tuesday (12.12.23) that he “felt really bad” for his brother Dan.
He describes his sibling as the “brains” of the operation, and joked: “Silly old Justin took all the drugs and [messed] it up.”
Reflecting on the split after 2005 LP ‘One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back’ – before reuniting in 2012 and continuing to put out music to this day – he added: “I’ve had to live with the consequences of that.”
Justin – who reflects on the experience in new documentary film ‘Welcome To The Darkness’ – used the tale to introduce fan favourite song ‘Givin’ Up’ on a wild sold out night at New Century Hall.
After coming on stage to ABBA track ‘Arrival’, the 48-year-old frontman halted the set just seconds into ‘Black Shuck’ as he told the crowd to put their phones away and enjoy the show.
As well as singles ‘Growing On Me’ and ‘Love Is Only A Feeling’, the band – completed by Frankie Poullain and Rufus Taylor, son of Queen legend Roger – also treated fans to rare B-sides ‘Makin’ Out’ and ‘The Best of Me’.
Midway through the set, Justin called out a gig-goer for continuing to film the show on his phone, before telling them to pass the device up on stage.
He then jokingly put the phone down the back of his catsuit, before later taping it to his guitar to video ‘How Dare You Call This Love?’, a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ and ‘Permission to Land’ closer ‘Holding My Own’.
The triumphant main set came to a close with ‘Friday Night’, ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)’ and ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’.
After a short break, the quartet returned in silk gowns and underpants to deliver a rendition of deep cut ‘I Love You 5 Times’ before Justin rode through the crowd on Rufus’ shoulders for ‘Love On The Rocks With No Ice’.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Dove Cameron needed to express her “personhood” on her new album.
The 27-year-old singer-and-actress has just released her debut LP ‘Alchemical: Volume 1’ and while she spent a long period of time being “really avoidant” to ballads and sad songs, she ultimately decided they were necessary when expressing her life experiences in her music.
She told Billboard magazine: “I always said that I never wanted to release any sad music or ballads, because I was really avoidant for a long time, like, ‘Everything’s happy! Everything’s so amazing!’ But I was not happy.
“I decided if I was going to be a person, right? Your personhood and your life has to come before everything. If I was ever going to become the person I was going to be — and music is so important to me — I had to integrate what has happened so far and I have to write for me first and foremost.”
Dove teased the upcoming second part to the project is a lot more fun and “sexy” and though the two albums are part of the same venture, she felt very differently working on each.
She said: “I felt like I was writing the two halves in such different headspaces. Like, the first half was really about the ending of something and an entire year of my life and the processing of that that happened.
“And then there was a very stark kind of sonic page turn when it came to the sort of next musical phase that I stepped into. It just kind of ended up making sense to split it.”
The ‘Boyfriend’ singer recently revealed the influences that may shape the second record.
She told Forbes magazine: “I’m having a big Beatles renaissance right now, big [David] Bowie renaissance, big Iggy Pop renaissance. I think the second half of the album is going be a huge departure.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Dave Grohl missed out on featuring on Boygenius’ album after sleeping through their planned recording session.
The Foo Fighters rocker, 54, was due to hit the studio with the US indie supergroup – comprising Julien Baker, 28, Phoebe Bridgers, 29, and Lucy Dacus, 28 – to contribute to a track on their debut LP ‘The Record’, but a miscommunication saw him getting some shuteye when he was meant to be recording his drum parts.
Phoebe told NME: “We have a friend who knows him and toured with Foo Fighters.
“There was this missed connection where Dave was actually going to come to the studio and play on [‘The Record’].”
He did make it up to them when he played their Halloween (31.10.23) show at the Hollywood Bowl, hitting the drums for the song ‘Satanist’ from the record.
Phoebe met the former Nirvana drummer backstage at a Billie Eilish concert, and she says the Grammy-nominated trio hope they “get old” like Dave.
She recalled: “I made friends with Dave backstage at a Billie Eilish show. He’s the coolest guy ever… I was texting the boys, being like, ‘I met Dave Grohl, and he exceeds every expectation of how a rock star can be in the world’. I think we, as a group, look for that a lot – like, who is living their life the way that we want to get old and live our lives?”
Lucy said: “He’s so game. I just want to stay game the way that he is.”
The pair speaking Dave’s praises comes after he spent a day off from the Foo Fighters’ Australian tour feeding the homeless.
The ‘Walk’ singer joined volunteers at Melbourne’s Federation Square last week to prepare and serve a barbecue for unhoused and food-insecure people in the area on behalf of the Big Umbrella Foundation.
As well as cooking, the ‘Pretender’ hitmaker happily posed for photographs and signed autographs for those who gathered for food.
In February, Dave spent over 24 hours volunteering at a barbecue for homeless people at Hope the Mission’s Trebek Center in Northridge, California.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Nile Rodgers says even David Bowie would struggle to make it with the state of the music industry today.
The Chic legend – who co-produced Bowie’s seminal 1983 album ‘Let’s Dance’ and has worked with the likes of Madonna, Duran Duran and Beyonce – gave evidence at the House of Commons to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee this week.
Asked about streaming services and the low levels of renumeration for artists, Nile admitted in his five decades in music he thought modern technologies would make his life “better”, but there is something “dreadfully wrong” in the system.
He said: “I’m 71 years old, I’ve been doing this for 50 years of my life.
“In 50 years, you would have thought with the advent of all the new technologies, people like me would have a much better life, things would be easier, we’d all profit together, and that’s not the case. There’s something dreadfully wrong with that.”
He then used the late ‘Starman’ hitmaker as an example of a music genius who wouldn’t stand a chance if he were starting out now.
Nile recalled how Bowie “paid” for ‘Let’s Dance’ to be made after he was dropped by RCA and said: “They gave him all that time to try and make a hit, he called me up and we made [Let’s Dance].
“[The labels] took on this financial responsibility and they would carry the artists they believed in that at some point in time would finally break.
“Those days are truly over.”
Ahead of his time, Bowie predicted in 2002 that the music business and how we consume songs would change within the next decade and become like “running water”.
He said: ”The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Sam Ryder would love The Pogues to beat him to Christmas Number One.
The ‘Space Man’ hitmaker – who rose to fame after representing the UK at the ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ in 2022 – is chasing the festive top spot with ‘You’re Christmas To Me’, but he thinks it would be “gorgeous” if ‘Fairytale of New York’ pipped him to the post after Shane MacGowan’s death two weeks ago aged 65.
He told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “I’ve got love in my heart for the ‘Fairytale of New York’ situation.
“That’s never got to Number One and that would be a gorgeous moment, especially now Shane MacGowan’s left us.
“There’s a lot of tragedy wrapped up in that song – two gorgeous voices no longer with us and taken too soon. That’s me taking a lovely romantic view on it.”
Fans have been campaigning to get The Pogues to the top of the charts following MacGowan’s death on November 30.
Sam, 34, is in the running despite his new single only being available via Amazon Music.
He explained: “Next year it will be available everywhere.
“Amazon have the exclusive this year as they asked me to write a theme tune for their movie ‘Your Christmas Or Mine 2.’ ”
Meanwhile, there is some stiff competition with Wham! hit ‘Last Christmas’ currently leading the pack, while regular festive favourites – such as ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey – are also in the running.
The idea of older songs re-entering the charts has prompted some fans to call for a ban on previous entries competing for Christmas Number One.
Sam added: “There’s a good discussion to have there! The charts are for listeners to enjoy – it’s like any score sheet.
“I’m only sitting here now talking about the chart because we happen to be in it, but when we made the song I had no indication we would be in this position.
“I just wanted to make the best Christmas song I could.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — S Club’s Jon Lee would love the ‘Reach For The Stars’ hitmakers to represent the UK at Eurovision.
The noughties group – also including Rachel Stevens 45, Jo O’Meara, 44, Tina Barrett, 47, and Bradley McIntosh, 42 – would bring “more glitter” if they competed in the international song contest, however, not all members are keen on the idea.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at the weekend, Jon said: “It would be amazing. I don’t think it can get much camper than that. Eurovision would be amazing.”
Jo said: “You know what, I don’t think I’d have the bottle.”
Tina added: “One thing I will say, they don’t like the UK, do they?
“They always give nul points. There would be more glitter if we did it.”
Elsewhere, the ‘Don’t Stop Movin” band released their comeback single, ‘These Are The Days’, in the summer, and more new music and shows are in the pipeline.
Jon teased: “We’ll definitely do some new music.
“We’re going to concentrate mainly on doing some live shows next year, maybe like the Isle of Wight Festival and a few things like that.
“Then a few more international tours and stuff so lots happening.”
The group – who formed in 1998 as S Club 7 and reunited with various lineups – sadly lost their beloved bandmate Paul Cattermole to heart failure earlier this year aged just 46.
Following the tragedy, Hannah Spearitt, 42, decided not to continue with the band.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Noel Gallagher has released new renditions of Oasis classics ‘Going Nowhere’ and ‘The Masterplan’.
The legendary Britpop group’s former guitarist and songwriter and his High Flying Birds headed down to the hallowed Abbey Road Studios to re-record the orchestral tunes.
Noel, 56, originally performed lead vocals in the place of frontman and estranged sibling Liam Gallagher, 51, on the pair of tunes.
‘Going Nowhere’ was released as a B-side to ‘Stand By Me’ in 1998 and was featured on the B-side compilation album ‘The Masterplan’.
The collection was re-released to mark its 25th anniversary and re-entered the UK Official Albums Chart at No. 2 in November.
Noel has often admitted he regrets ‘The Masterplan’ not being a single as it’s the “best song” he’s ever penned.
He previously told Music Week: “The singles had to have three B-sides and I was always coming up two songs short. I remember writing The Masterplan at home in Camden and then going to Maison Rouge [Studios] in Fulham the next day and playing it on an acoustic guitar to silence. I’d write The Masterplan, Talk Tonight or Half The World Away and nobody would say, ‘Do you want to hold that back?’ It’s only as the years have gone along that I’ve realised that was mental. But we were all mad in the ’90s – Alan McGee was off his [face] and he was running the label.”
Noel will be performing Oasis classics alongside his solo works at various concerts next year.
Catch Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Wigan’s Robin Park (July 18), London’s Alexandra Palace Park (July 20), as well as Cardiff Castle (July 17), and Halifax’s The Piece Hall (August 1).
Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher is set to return to the studio to make his next solo album.
The rocker narrowly missed the No.1 spot with his fourth High Flying Birds record ‘Council Skies’ in June, but will be hoping to land the top spot with his next studio effort, which he says he’s going to start recording the New Year after banking enough tunes to fill two albums.
He was recently quoted by The Sun as saying: “I’ve had to stop writing because I need to get these songs recorded and get them out there so I can write some more.
“In the pandemic there was nothing to do all day so I just wrote songs. There’s another two albums-worth of material there.
“I think I’m going to be back in the studio in January, so we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Source: IconInsider.com