OHMYGOSSIP — Nia Archives, FLO and Cat Burns have been shortlisted for the Rising Star award at the BRIT Awards 2023.
Lo-fi jungle star Nia admitted she is feeling “so overwhelmed and happy” to be up for the same prize handed to the likes of Adele, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Sam Fender, Celeste, and last year’s recipient Holly Humberstone.
She said: “Words won’t describe how I’m feeling about being nominated for the BRITs Rising Star. Growing up and watching it on TV, I really never thought it could happen to someone like me. I’m just so overwhelmed and happy right now.”
Earlier this year, the ‘Forbidden Feelingz’ star was honoured with the Best Producer prize at the NME Awards.
Singer/songwriter Cat, 22, is over the moon to have been chosen as she had this specific accolade on her bucket list.
She said: “A BRITs Rising Star nomination was a major thing on my bucket list for me this year, so to have achieved that honestly means the world to me. I’m super grateful for the year I’ve had and am so honoured to have been chosen!”
Like Adele, Cat was a scholar at The BRIT School.
British girl group FLO – comprising Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma, and Renée Downer – only released their debut single ‘Cardboard Box’ in March, but they quickly attained a mass following after the track went viral on TikTok.
They have declared “girl groups are back” and expressed their goal of paving the way for future artists to “achieve their dreams”.
The trio said: “It’s a dream come true to receive a BRIT nomination less than a year after dropping our first single. We all grew up watching the BRITs with our mums, and have been inspired by the girl groups and powerful female artists who have performed on that stage. We’re grateful to everyone who has believed in our vision so far and can’t wait to share more music with the world. Girl groups are back and we want to pave the way for more artists to achieve their dreams. We hope that this is the first of many BRIT nominations for FLO.”
The overall winner will be announced on December 8.
The BRIT Awards 2023 with Mastercard will take place on Saturday 11th February – the first time the show will be held on a Saturday in its history – and will broadcast live on ITV and ITVX – from The O2 arena.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Sugababes have announced a one-off concert at London’s The O2 arena next year.
The original line-up – Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donagh – reunited for their first performance in nine years at the Mighty Hoopla festival in June, and followed that dazzling performance with a triumphant set at Glastonbury and a reunion tour.
Now, the trio have announced details of a huge arena show at the London venue on September 15, 2023.
The ‘Overload’ hitmakers had originally planned to launch their comeback in 2020 – but their ambitions were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an Instagram Live, Keisha explained: “We had so many plans for last year.
“2020 was our anniversary year, we built it up to do so many things but it didn’t happen, so we have to restructure.
“We just have to be motivated to do it and passionate about it and once we are actually in the studio it flows really easily for us. But it’s about getting us all on the same page on the same date and the pandemic makes it really tricky.
“It just has to be organic and be on the same page as far as our schedules are concerned.”
Last year, meanwhile, Siobhan revealed the band had been working on new music.
However, she also insisted there were “no concrete plans” in place at the time.
She said: “There’s nothing concrete at the moment, but we are working on stuff all the time and definitely new music.
“We love making music together and that’s something we’re going to continue to do. And hopefully it won’t be too long now, now that we can be in the studio together again.”
The girls did, however, re-release Mutya’s 2013 solo single ‘Flatline’ under the Sugababes name in the summer.
Tickets for The O2 go on general sale on Friday (02.12.22) at 10am via LiveNation.co.uk.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers’ has been crowned BBC Radio 6 Music’s Album of the Year.
The hip-hop legend’s acclaimed 2022 LP beat the likes of Yard Act’s ‘The Overload’, Wet Leg’s self-titled debut, Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Skinty Fia’ and Arctic Monkeys’ ‘The Car’ to the top spot.
Lauren Laverne announced the outcome on her BBC Radio 6 Music Breakfast Show on Tuesday (29.11.22).
Presenters at the UK’s top radio station were asked to vote.
Mary Anne Hobbs was among those to vote for the album and said: “I think it’s fair to say, it’s rare that one artist can unite the whole of the 6 Music family, with our vast diversity of tastes and preferences. But Kendrick is peerless, and with ‘Mr Morale and The Big Steppers’, he’s done it.”
Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music, commented: “6 Music’s Albums of the Year celebrates the work of some incredible artists who have been championed by our passionate presenters across 2022. As always, 6 Music will be taking a deeper exploration of each of these fine albums throughout December. Congratulations to all of our selected artists and especially to Kendrick Lamar for his acclaimed album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.”
The praise follows Kendrick’s big wins at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2022, while he’s nominated for eight awards at the 2023 GRAMMYs.

6 Music’s Top 10 albums of 2022 are:
Kendrick Lamar – ‘Mr Morale and The Big Steppers’
Yard Act – ‘The Overload’
Kae Tempest – ‘The Line Is A Curve’
Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul – ‘Topical Dancer’
Wet Leg – ‘Wet Leg’
Warmduscher – ‘At The Hotspot’
Fontaines D.C. – ‘Skinty Fia’
Danger Mouse and Black Thought – ‘Cheat Codes’
Arctic Monkeys – ‘The Car’
Gwenno – ‘Tresor’

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OHMYGOSSIP — Mark Feehily has been forced to pull out of Westlife’s upcoming gigs due to pneumonia.
The 42-year-old singer already had to miss the band’s Newcastle gigs on Friday (25.11.22) and Saturday (26.11.22), and is gutted he has to miss more concerts on their ‘Wild Dreams’ jaunt – but he’s under doctor’s orders to rest up.
Mark said: “Firstly, I’d like to say a huge sincere thank you to everybody for sending their and get well soon messages – it means so much. I was really gutted to miss the weekend shows in Newcastle but I started to feel quite unwell on Friday and doctors have confirmed that it is a bout of pneumonia.”
Mark, who sings the highest notes out of his bandmates – Shane Filan, 43, Nicky Byrne, 44, and Kian Egan, 42 – vowed to return to the stage “as soon as” he is given the “all-clear”.
He continued: “I have been informed that the quickest way to recovery is to rest and continue the antibiotics. I’m feeling a bit better every day. The nurses and motors are taking amazing care of me so it should all be over in no time.
“This does, however, mean missing more gigs which is horrible but I’ll be back on stage as soon as I get the all clear.”
Mark signed off the post: “Until then, Nicky, Shane and Kian will continue to fly the Westlife flag high for all of us. Please scream even louder than usual for those three legends in my absence! Sending love to you all, I hope to see you back on the road very soon!”
The Irish group aren’t having much luck of late, as bandmate Nicky took a nasty tumble backstage at their Glasgow show last week.
He told fans on Instagram: “So last night I did have a little accident on stage in Glasgow, where I didn’t realise the mechanical stairs had opened behind me.
“A crazy moment which could have been a lot worse but I’m completely fine, a little bit battered and bruised but ok! I’ll see y’all back up there tonight. The show must go on. Thanks for all your well wishes. #ReallyFlyingWithoutWings.”
The ‘What About Now’ hitmakers play Liverpool next on November 30.
The tour is currently due to end with two nights in Belfast on December 15 and 16.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Matty Healy has claimed The 1975 “worked on” a version of Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ that didn’t come to fruition.
The ‘I’m In Love With You’ hitmakers appeared on Kroq’s ‘DTS Sound Space’ to be interviewed in front of a live audience and Matty was asked if he got to hear the pop megastar’s latest album before it was released, to which he let slip: “Yeah. We actually worked a bit on that. But then [that] version of it never came out.”
His response was met with boos, but he swiftly explained: “No, no, no – that’s not how it works. It [didn’t work out] for reasons that are not to be criticised. She’s amazing.”
The month prior to October’s ‘Midnights’ being released, a fake track-listing leaked online with The 1975 listed as a featured artist on the track ‘In My Dreams’.
However, Matty insisted it wasn’t real and that they hadn’t worked with the ‘Karma’ hitmaker, though they’d like to.
He said at the time: “We’d love to … love to work with Taylor Swift.
“[I] love Taylor Swift … think she’s one of the best songwriters. Yeah, no … we haven’t done that. We’d love to though, wouldn’t we?”
Drummer George Daniel added: “Yes please.”
And Matty joked that Taylor was probably at home watching the interview and “pining” to appear on one of the pop rock band’s songs.
He quipped: “She’s probably sat there watching this, pining for a feature on a 1975 track.”
The 1975 released their fifth record ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’ the same month as Taylor, and the ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ singer thought their LP was “so funny”.
Matty previously revealed he missed an opportunity to ask Taylor to collaborate with him – but believes “she will do it” eventually.
He was inches away from the US superstar at the NME Awards in 2020, but admitted he didn’t have the nerve to “pitch his post-rock Joni Mitchell project” to her.
He recalled at the time: “I went over to her. I was like, ‘Taylor, we need to make the record.’
“No, I didn’t. She said hello to every single person. Obviously, it’s Taylor Swift so everyone was saying hello.
“She was just stood behind me.
“I mean, I haven’t seen Taylor in years so it was actually a really nice room.
“But it, unfortunately, wasn’t the time for me to pitch my post-rock Joni Mitchell project to [her].
“She’ll do it. She’ll do it. She’s smarter than both of us, mate. She knows what she’s up to.
“I mean, I mean she’s got stuff like ‘Lover’ knocking around as well, which she was already making. We think that she’s going back there. That song’s good.”
The 33-year-old star previously revealed he wants to produce an acoustic album for Taylor.
He took to Twitter to suggest the idea of the ‘ME!’ hitmaker covering songs by Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen.
Matty wrote: “Taylor Swift. With an acoustic guitar. Doing her ‘Nebraska’. Doing her ‘Blue’. Kill me (sic)”

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OHMYGOSSIP — The Offspring are to head into the studio next year to record a new album.
Singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland admitted the band don’t have a long-term plan and feel “very fortunate” to still be around.
He said: “The nature of the music business is that you never know when your time is up. We’re very fortunate to still be here.
“But as Jim Morrison once said, ‘The future is uncertain and the end is always near.’
“It always seems like we can do this for a few more years — people are still coming to the shows, and we’re still getting played on the radio — so for the time being it seems OK. But beyond that, who knows?”
The ‘Self Esteem’ hitmakers are to go into the studio in January with longtime producer Bob Rock to work on a follow up to 2021’s 10th studio album ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’.
Dexter admitted the band became “real tight” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to Canadian newspaper Times Colonist, he added: “In a funny way, I think the [pandemic] break really energised us.
“It gave us time to let us finish the last record, and we got the band real tight. We’ve decided to keep on going, so when we’re in-between tours, we’re working on new material.”
In August, The Offspring reassured fans that they and their crew were safe after one of their SUVs caught fire in Canada.
The ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ hitmakers were on the road to Rimouski, a city in Quebec, when an item flew off the vehicle in front of them and sent flames soaring through their ride.
Fortunately, no one was injured and they made it on time to play Les Grandes Fetes TELUS festival, though personal items including passports and luggage didn’t make it.
The group tweeted: “While traveling through Canada yesterday, something flew off the vehicle in front of us and became wedged underneath one of our SUVs and it caught fire. Everyone got out safely, but the luggage, passports, laptops and pretty much everything else was destroyed.”
Reassuring their fans, the band added: “We are happy to report that everyone is doing ok and we’ve made it safely to Rimouski and will be performing tonight at Les Grandes Fetes TELUS. Hope to see everyone there!”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Lars Ulrich admits seeing ‘Master of Puppets’ become “a phenomenon” has been “such a mindf***”.
The Metallica drummer is blown away by the renewed success of the song – which features on the hard rock legend’s 1986 album of the same name – after it was featured in the ‘Stranger Things’ season four finale.
Appearing on SiriusXM’s ‘The Howard Stern Show’, Lars said: “It was such a mindf*** to see how that became a phenomenon, and we were so proud.
“I mean, who would’ve thought 40 years later that these songs could still have that impact? So we were psyched to be part of it, absolutely. It was just so unexpected.”
In the pivotal scene, the character Eddie Munson – who is played by Joseph Quinn – can be seen playing the song on guitar in the Upside Down in an attempt to distract a horde of demon bats and leave Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) more exposed.
Lars admitted the group always refused to license their music for TV and films, but they have softened their stance over the years.
He added: “It used to be, with Metallica, we were always the ‘no’ guys. ‘Hey can we have this song for this? Can we have that song for that?’
“It was just no, no, no, no, no. And a few years ago we kind of reversed it. We did a 180.
“We just said, ‘You know what? This is stupid. Why are we hanging onto these songs like they’re so important, like they’re the crown jewels?’
“Let’s share our music with the world. So a couple of years ago we started saying yes to everything.”
The group previously praised ‘Stranger Things’ bosses the Duffer Brothers for the role music plays in the Netflix series.
They wrote on Instagram after the last two episodes dropped: “The way The Duffer Brothers have incorporated music into ‘Stranger Things’ has always been next level, so we were beyond psyched for them to not only include ‘Master of Puppets’ in the show, but to have such a pivotal scene built around it.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Eurthymics are set to make £100 million be reforming for a world tour.
The ‘There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)’ duo – comprising Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart – went their separate ways in 1990 but have reunited several times since and after getting back together earlier this year to perform at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they have been asked by promotors to go on the road together for the first time in over 20 years.
A source told the Sunday Mirror newspaper’s The Goss column: “Eurythmics have been offered a huge amount to reform for a world tour.
“Seeing them perform together again at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has really stirred the interests of promoters who are throwing money at the band to hit the road again.
“Nothing is off the table, including a brand new studio album.
“It is very early days but everyone is excited to bring the project to life.”
Dave admitted earlier this year he finds performing with Annie – who he was also previously in a relationship with – “a rollercoaster” and an “exhausting emotional experience” because of the nature of their bond.
He said: “It’s a rollercoaster because of the emotional connection between Annie and myself. People cry at some songs and it’s an exhausting emotional experience for Annie singing too. A lot of the songs we’ve written together are about us being together.
“So it’s not a straightforward concert going outwards to the audience – it’s like going inwards to us as well, as a duo or as a couple.”
Dave – who has two adult kids Sam and Django with his ex, Bananarama Siobhan Fahey, and two daughters Kaya and Indya with his current wife Anoushka Fisz – says their dynamic is “unusual” as its the reverse of other bands with ex lovers.
He said: “It’s unusual. Usually a couple are in a band together, the band gets successful and then they break up. Ours was the other way around – we were a couple and in a band but didn’t write any of the songs for it or while we were living together. Then we decided not to be together, formed Eurythmics and wrote about 140 songs about it.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Peter Buck would never return to R.E.M..
The 65-year-old musician was a co-founding member of the ‘Losing My Religion’ band until its demise in 2011, but he struggled to get much enjoyment out of it once they got “really big”.
He told Classic Rock magazine: “When the non-musical stuff became so intense, it took away some of the pleasure for me.
“It’s just the stuff where you kind of wake up and go, ‘God, I don’t really want to have my picture taken today. And I don’t really want to pretend to be an actor in some video where I can’t act.’”
There were, however, moments he did get a huge buzz from.
Peter added: “I loved playing Glastonbury and playing in front of lots of people and selling multiple copies of records, but it was never the reason I did it.
“And when we got to the point where we decided that it was the end, it felt like a great shared experience.
“I wouldn’t change it, but I’m not going to go back to it.”
The multi-instrumentalist insisted the group ended at the right time; on a high.
He explained: “The last two records were really strong.
“But I just felt like no matter how good our last record was, it wasn’t really our time anymore.
“And that’s fair, and I understand that.
“And we were lucky. The last tour we did, we were still playing to huge amounts of people.
“We went to South America, which was like being The Beatles.
“So everyone felt like, ‘Yeah, this is a really good stopping point.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — The Weeknd finally finished a show in California two months after cutting the gig short due to vocal problems.
The 32-year-old singer was left distraught back in September when he lost his voice and was unable to continue performing for fans at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California – he vowed to make it up to gig-goers and on Saturday (27.11.22), he returned to finish what he’d started.
The Weeknd – real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye – played the same set list as the doomed September gig and was able to make it through without any issues.
Early on in the show, he told the audience: “And we’re back at the scene of the crime, it looks like. How it’s sounding tonight, is it sounding good? I love you. And the party has just started.”
He also thanked fans for coming back to see him again, telling them: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for fighting through with this with me, and for coming back and showing me so much love. I knew you’d come back. I love you guys so much, and I don’t know what else to say. Los Angeles, I f****** love you!”
During the previous show there on September 3, The Weeknd left the stage after a few songs before returning to address the 70,000 fans in attendance. Met with loud boos from fans who had packed the arena, he said: “I can’t give you the concert I want to give you. I’m going to make sure everyone’s good, gets your money back, and I’ll do a show real soon for you guys, but I wanted to come out and personally apologise and not tweet it or Instagram it. “I wanted you guys to know that I can’t give you what I want to give you. I apologise. I’m so sorry. “You know how much this kills me. I love you. Thank you so much.” Later in the evening, he took to social media to again apologise. He said on an Instagram story: “My voice went out during the first song and I’m devastated. Felt it go and my heart dropped. My deepest apologies to my fans here. I promise I’ll make it up to you with a new date.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Beyoncé was the big winner at the 2022 Soul Train Awards.
The ‘CUFF IT’ singer was honoured with three top prizes at the pre-taped ceremony, which was filmed at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas last month, but aired over the weekend.
‘Renaissance’ was crowned Album of the Year, ‘Break My Soul’ landed Song of the Year and ‘Make Me Say It Again, Girl’ with Ronald Isley and The Isley Brothers was named Best collaboration.
Lizzo, Chris Brown, Jazmine Sullivan and Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic were also among the winners.
Mary J. Blige was this year’s recipient of the Certified Soul Award.
The bash kicked off with a breathtaking performance from Muni Long of her Grammy-nominated breakout hit ‘Hrs and Hrs’ followed by ‘Plot Twist’.
Ari Lennox also took to the stage to perform ‘Waste My Time’.
Comedian Deon Cole hosted proceedings.
As ‘Renaissance’ dominates awards season, it was recently alleged that ‘Renaissance’ act II is an acoustic LP and act III is a collaboration with her husband Jay-Z.
New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan made the claims on Twitter this month, just in case the micro-blogging app vanished amid speculation the site was shutting down.
He wrote: “Before Twitter goes down, instead of making you follow me somewhere else, I’ll just tell you what I’ve heard about the other 2 acts of Beyonce’s 3-part “Renaissance” project
“(2nd act is an acoustic album, 3rd act is a collaboration with Jay-Z) (sic)”
The ‘Crazy in Love’ singer is yet to announce the next two parts of the three-part project.
She’s received nine GRAMMY nominations for the first act.
The 41-year-old superstar – who is now tied with husband Jay-Z as the most-nominated artist in the history of the awards with a total of 88 each – enjoyed a career comeback with the chart-topping lead single, ‘Break My Soul’, and record, including the prestigious Album of the Year and Song of the Year prizes.
Beyoncé is also reportedly planning to hit the road in 2023 for a ‘Renaissance’ world tour.
The ‘Love On Top’ singer last toured in 2018 when she hit the road with her husband after releasing their joint album ‘Everything Is Love’.

An abridged list of the Soul Train winners is as follows:

Album of the Year
‘Renaissance’, Beyoncé

Song of the Year
‘Break My Soul’, Beyoncé

Video of the Year
‘Smokin Out the Window’ Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak)

Best New Artist
Tems

Best R+B/Soul Female Artist
Jazmine Sullivan

Best R+B/Soul Male Artist
Chris Brown

Best Collaboration
‘Make Me Say It Again, Girl’ – Ronald Isley and The Isley Brothers feat. Beyoncé

Certified Soul Award
Mary J. Blige

The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter’s Award
‘Hrs and Hrs’, Muni Long

Best Dance Performance
‘About Damn Time’, Lizzo

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OHMYGOSSIP — Craig David will be honoured with the Outstanding Contribution Award at the 2022 MOBO Awards.
The Garage King – who has won five MOBOs during his 20-year career – will be presented the accolade at the OVO Arena Wembley on November 30.
Craig, 41, told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “MOBO has been there since the beginning of my career.
“They gave me my first award and their encouragement meant everything to me.
“I’m so grateful for their continued support over the years, not just for myself but for so many UK artists.”
Knucks, Little Simz, and Central Cee lead the nominations this year.
The ‘Home’ rapper has landed five nods at the upcoming ceremony, including Album of the Year, Best Male Act, Best Hip-Hop Act and two Video of the Year nominations for ‘Alpha House/Hide and Seek’ and his guest spot on fellow nominee’s Kojey Radical’s single ‘Payback’.
Mercury Prize winner Simz, 28, and Central Cee, 24, are both up for four prizes.
The former received nods for Album of the Year for ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, Best Female Act, Best Hip-Hop Act and Video of the Year for ‘Point And Kill’.
And Central Cee – who was named Best Newcomer last year – scored nominations for Best Male Act, Best Drill Act, and Song of The Year and Video of the Year for ‘Doja’.
Two new music categories have been added to mark the 25th edition of the MOBOs: Best Alternative Music Act (in association with Marshall) and Best Dance/Electronic Act (supported by Mixmag) to mark the widening cultural understanding of music of Black origin, which the event celebrates.
Kanya King, founder of the MOBO Awards, said: “Today’s announcement truly shows what a bumper year it has been for the scene. It’s a proud moment to see MOBO once again recognise and honour the luminaries and tip the stars of the future. This is what it means when we say ‘honouring the past, inspiring the future’. Big congratulations to all our nominees and thanks to our headline partner Lucozade. A special mention to ASOS, Marshall and all our other partners. We are proud to announce the addition of two new categories to recognise the breadth of black culture’s impact on a variety of music genres and welcome more rising stars, ahead of what will be a truly unmissable celebration of our 25 years.”
Tickets for the MOBO Awards in association with Lucozade are available now.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Leigh-Anne Pinnock has been working on solo tunes with hip-hop and R’n’B vibes with Beyoncé and Rihanna’s producer.
Hit-Boy – real name Chauncey Hollis – spent time in the studio in Los Angeles with the Little Mix star earlier this year, with the pair working on a number of tracks.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “Leigh-Anne has been working out what sort of music feels best for her, and she’s been making great progress.
“A lot of the songs have a heavy R’n’B vibe and others have strong hip-hop influences.
“It’s the music she listens to the most so it makes sense to follow that path.
“Leigh has great names working with her so she is on to a winner.”
Back in June, Leigh-Anne’s record label launched an investigation after an early demo of her solo track, ‘I Need You’, leaked online.
Warner Music swiftly had links to the recording taken down.
The clip was replaced with a notice of a copyright claim by the owner, which read: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
A source said at the time: “This track is an extremely early demo.
“Bosses acted quickly and are determined to get to the bottom of how it appeared online because only a handful of people had heard it.
“They are taking it extremely seriously. Leigh-Anne is working hard to give fans the music they deserve.”
Leigh-Anne has also been working with Tayla Parx, who co-wrote the girl group’s hit single ‘Sweet Melody’.
It was also claimed that Leigh-Anne is set to drop her last name for her solo releases.
The 31-year-old star bought the domain Leigh-Anne.com, which is currently “under construction”.
Meanwhile, it’s not just music Leigh-Anne is getting into after Little Mix – also comprising Perrie Edwards, 29, and Jade Thirlwall, 29 – went on hiatus as the pop singer is also writing a book.
Leigh-Anne – who has 15-month-old twins with fiance Andre Gray – has a number of projects in the pipeline, but she is most “passionate” about the tome she is planning to publish, which will focus on identity and her own experiences, expanding on the topics covered in her BBC Three documentary ‘Race, Pop and Power’.
In March, it was reported that Leigh-Anne was negotiating with several publishing houses over the rights to her memoir.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Lizzo says pop music has “racist origins”.
The ‘About Damn Time’ hitmaker was quizzed on her comment that her music has been called out for “not being Black enough”, and how it all stems back to the segregation of Black artists from being mainstream in the 80s.
She told Entertainment Weekly: “I think if people did any research they would see that there was race music and then there was pop music. And race music was their way of segregating Black artists from being mainstream, because they didn’t want their kids listening to music created by Black and brown people because they said it was demonic and yada, yada, yada.”
She continued: “I think when you think about pop, you think about MTV in the ’80s talking about ‘We can’t play rap music’ or ‘We can’t put this person on our platform because we’re thinking about what people in the middle of America think’ – and we all know what that’s code for.”
The 34-year-old star says rap music taking over much of mainstream music in the US is a positive thing.
She explained: “Now pop music is really rap in its DNA – rap is running the game, and I think that’s so cool. But we forget that in the late ’80s and the early ’90s, there were these massive pop diva records that were sang by Black women like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. And I’m giving that same energy. I’m giving that same energy with a little bit of rap, and I think that people just have to get used to me.”
Lizzo went on to point out that people are quick to judge “anything new”.
She added: “I think anything that’s new, people are going to criticise and feel like it’s not for them. But once you know what it is – just like I’ve got a friend who don’t like avocado but she likes guacamole; it don’t make no sense – but once you get used to something, it might be for you.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Duran Duran will now play two nights at London’s The O2 as part of their ‘FUTURE PAST’ tour, “due to phenomenal demand”.
The ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ group will play Manchester’s AO Arena on April 29, 2023, followed by London’s The O2 Arena on May 1 and May 2, before heading to Leeds’ First Direct Arena, Birmingham’s Utilita Arena, and the 3 Arena in Dublin.
A press release teases that: “More activity is soon to be announced.”
Frontman Simon Le Bon said: “2022 has been an extraordinary year for Duran Duran – mainly down to the incredible fans we have around the world. In July we celebrated our years together at Hyde Park as part of the British Summer Time Festival. Next Spring we will be back on home soil once again to continue the party. It’s remarkable to me that as a band, we are still hitting new milestones, still able to introduce the sound of DD to new generations of music lovers. We are truly grateful that we get to do what we do on a daily basis, and that we still love our job as much as we did when we started out some four decades ago.”
Head to www.duranduran.com for ticket information.
Meanwhile, the new wave group’s feature length docu-concert film ‘A Hollywood High’ is set to stream on-demand globally via Veeps from December 18 to January 2.
Duran Duran – who have just been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – will also headline American Express presents BST Hyde Park on July 10, 2023.

Duran Duran’s April / May 2023 UK Headline Arena Tour Dates

April 29 – The AO Arena, Manchester
May 1 – The O2, London
May 2 – The O2, London – Extra Date Added Due To Huge Demand
May 4 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
May 5 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
May 7 – 3 Arena, Dublin

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Shania Twain has added five new dates to her mammoth 2023 ‘Queen of Me Tour’.
The country-pop legend will now play Glasgow and Leeds on September 14 and September 28, respectively, for the UK leg.
And in North America, the ‘You’re Still the One’ hitmaker will now play Bethel, New York on July 3, a second date in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, on June 15, and New Orleans on July 24.
The jaunt kicks off on April 28 at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington.
It’s the first global run from Shania in almost five years.
The support acts for select dates include Kelsea Ballerini, Lindsay Ell, Hailey Whitters, Breland, Robyn Ottolini, Priscilla Block, and Mickey Guyton.
Tickets for the newly added dates go on sale on Friday (02.12.22) at 10 am local via LiveNation.co.uk.
The tour is in support of Shania’s upcoming album of the same name, which is released on February 3.
Shania recently explained how the pandemic gave her plenty of time to focus on writing, and the sessions resulted in enough material for “four albums”.
The ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ hitmaker shared: “The COVID period gave me more time than I expected. So I basically wrote four albums worth of music.
“This is just the beginning. I was so productive, I wrote a lot of music.
“So it was very difficult to narrow it down to what would then be this album, ‘Queen of Me’, but, of course, once I determined the real focus of the sentiment of the album, what I want to express personally out there right now, which is the Queen of Me message, be the queen of yourself, the boss of you and take responsibility for the good and the bad and everything that comes in between.
“So the songs naturally fell into place after that, once I had a good beginning, which was the title.”

Source: IconInsider.com