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Seven years since her last album, 2017’s The Ride, Nelly Furtado’s seventh album is, quite sensibly, named 7. The Canadian Portuguese musician’s return to music was partially inspired, she has said, by going out and hearing her defining hits – Maneater, Promiscuous, Like a Bird – being remixed by DJs, and her eldest daughter showing her how they were being enjoyed by a new generation on TikTok. The album embraces Furtado’s Latin roots, featuring collaborations with Bomba Estéreo, and her pop bona fides, with the likes of SG Lewis (Dua Lipa) and Tove Lo on board – threading the joins between her introspective 2003 album Folklore and 2006’s pop-R&B smash Loose, which doesn’t seem to have aged a day.Since then, Furtado has been named as an influence by the likes of Lorde, Billie Eilish and Lipa; she’s also collaborated with artists including Justin Timberlake, NERD and Dev Hynes. It’s been a storied career, from breaking out as a hippy alternative to the reigning early 00s pop queens with I’m Like a Bird, to releasing her debut Spanish language album, Mi Plan, in 2009 – with more than 45m record sales and a brace of awards along the way

September62024

Seth Meyers on JD Vance: ‘He’s done the impossible – he’s made Mike Pence the fun one’

Late-night hosts discuss Donald Trump’s absence from the campaign trail, JD Vance’s lack of charm and Raygun’s apology to the breakdancing community.With less than two months to go until election day, Joe Biden has joined Kamala Harris on the campaign trail, while Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, courted union voters in Milwaukee. In contrast, Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have been absent from the campaign trail this week. “I mean, in fairness, Trump and Vance were probably in the backyard in Mar-a-Lago hosting their annual neighborhood barbecue, where old weird beard over here made awkward conversation with people,” said Seth Meyers on Late Night.“Maybe I’m being hard on JD

September52024

LL Cool J: ‘Hip-hop isn’t underdog music any more’

The artist and actor answers your questions about dodging animatronic sharks, hanging out with Al Pacino, his love of Abba and the making of his first album in 11 yearsDo you think hip-hop still has the cultural impact it once did when you first arrived on the scene during the Def Jam era? Can it still be considered the “Black CNN”, in the words of Chuck D? Bauhaus66Hip-hop isn’t underdog music any more. On some levels, people even view it as elitist music now. Whether it’s still the Black CNN depends on the artist. It’s become more of a pop genre and doesn’t have the punk rock, Sex Pistols, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, LL early 80s energy, but I think it’s more important than ever for artists to write about more than just the trappings of success. As you evolve, you expect someone to meet you where you’re at and if that’s still at the car dealership there’s going to be a disconnect

September52024

US playwright donates £1m to save home of Shakespeare’s daughter

The charity that cares for historic Shakespeare sites in Stratford-upon-Avon has received an unprecedented donation of £1m from the Olivier award-winning US playwright Ken Ludwig.The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) can now pay for crucial conservation work on Hall’s Croft, the home of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her physician husband, John Hall, who is believed to have advised his father-in-law on medical matters.It is the largest private donation in the trust’s 177-year history.Ludwig has had a lifelong passion for Shakespeare. He told the Guardian that, while on a visit to Stratford, he felt he had to help after hearing of the building’s plight while being shown round by Charlotte Scott, one of SBT’s directors: “They were asking themselves: ‘How can we save Hall’s Croft because it’s literally falling over?’ I said to them, ‘What would it cost to save it?’ They told me and, I thought, if there’s any time I can make a difference about the things I care about, this is it

September52024

Seth Meyers on Donald Trump: ‘He’s just getting weirder’

Late-night hosts talk Donald Trump’s weird campaign rhetoric and his Arlington national cemetery controversy amid a tight presidential race.Donald Trump may be in the final stretches of the 2024 presidential campaign, but he “seems to be devolving in ways that’s unusual even for him”, said Seth Meyers on Tuesday night.The Late Night host recapped Trump’s very bad last 10 days: “He’s been caught flip-flopping on a Florida abortion measure before caving to rightwing backlash, his campaign was reprimanded by the army for violating federal law by filming a campaign video and abusing an employee at a sacred military burial site, and he appeared at a joint campaign event with bear carcass enthusiast and Airbnb for brain worms, RFK Jr.”“And as he gets more desperate, Trump is also … well, he’s just getting weirder,” Meyers added before a clip of Trump at a rally over the weekend, in which he assured voters: “I have your back, I have your heart, and I have every other part of your body.”“He sounds like a plane crash survivor calling dibs,” Meyers joked

September42024

Meet the ‘nope baby’: the nepo baby who bites back, with teeth

Last month, a young woman with Rapunzel-length blond hair lip-synced in a post for TikTok that she was “famous for having daddy issues”. A million people watched it. Some called her an icon. That’s because, as she claimed in another TikTok, “I’m not just a bitch, I’m a bitch with a backstory.”Vivian Jenna Wilson is the daughter of billionaire tech CEO and easily dislikable egomaniac Elon Musk

September42024

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