From reproductive rights to local weather change to Huge Tech, The Unbiased is on the bottom when the story is creating. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a light-weight on the American ladies combating for reproductive rights, we all know how essential it’s to parse out the details from the messaging.
At such a essential second in US historical past, we want reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to either side of the story.
The Unbiased is trusted by People throughout your complete political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information shops, we select to not lock People out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We consider high quality journalism needs to be out there to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
Your assist makes all of the distinction.
It’s already that point of 12 months for Spotify to launch its particular “Wrapped” function, which offers customers with personalised analytics of their music listening habits from the previous 12 months.
Spotify has issued a assertion telling customers to ensure their app is up to date to make sure they’re getting the total Wrapped expertise.
The music streaming service first launched Spotify Wrapped in 2016. The statistics present music followers with their high listened-to artists, albums, songs, podcasts and extra to share with their pals.
How you can entry your personalised Spotify wrapped
For these excited by taking part within the viral hype, you should be a Spotify subscriber. The function will seemingly pop up mechanically once you open the app. Nevertheless, if it doesn’t, you’ll be able to go to Spotify’s web site or try the “dwelling” part of the app and Spotify Wrapped needs to be there.
There has beforehand been some confusion about whether or not music listened to past October is included in Wrapped’s information. In October 2023, Spotify confirmed on X that music listened to past 31 October does certainly rely.
A take a look at a few of the designs for this 12 months’s Spotify Wrapped, the music streamer’s annual statistical round-up (Spotify)
Final 12 months’s high 5 listened-to tracks globally had been Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers”, SZA’s “Kill Invoice”, Harry Kinds’s “As It Was”, Jung Kook’s “Seven (feat Latto) (Specific ver)” and Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado’s “Ella Baila Sola”.
Taylor Swift overtook Unhealthy Bunny’s as this 12 months’s high listened-to artist with greater than 26.1 billion international streams. The reggaeton celebrity got here in second, adopted by The Weeknd, Drake and Peso Pluma.
Unhealthy Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti album, nevertheless, took the highest spot because the most-listened-to album of 2023, whereas Swift’s Midnights got here in second.
As for podcasts, Joe Rogan’s The Joe Rogan Expertise was the worldwide favorite, and YouTuber Alex Cooper’s Name Her Daddy podcast landed as quantity two.
From reproductive rights to local weather change to Large Tech, The Impartial is on the bottom when the story is creating. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a light-weight on the American ladies combating for reproductive rights, we all know how vital it’s to parse out the information from the messaging.
At such a essential second in US historical past, we’d like reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to either side of the story.
The Impartial is trusted by Individuals throughout your entire political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information retailers, we select to not lock Individuals out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We imagine high quality journalism ought to be out there to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
Thrusting excessive above the harbourfront website are the main-stage headliners of the banking world: JP Morgan, HSBC, Citibank, Financial institution of America, and Tottenham Hotspur equipment sponsors AIA. Their gleaming high-rises shimmering and pulsing with logos and illuminations that put the competition’s precise light-shows within the shade.
All of the extra strain, then, on the invoice to ship. Significantly when, throughout six levels, the capability is a comparatively small 30,000 per day. And Clockenflap, for all of the nonsense of its purposefully “distinctive” made-up title, punches above its weight. Operating since 2008, final yr it placed on two editions, in March and December, that includes Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Idles, Caroline Polachek and Wu-Tang Clan, plus a number of artists from throughout Asia like native rapper Tyson Yoshi and Cantopop lady group Collar.
This yr’s line-up is equally spectacular. On the opening Friday night time, Porter Robinson’s fratboy hyperpop attracts an excitable younger crowd to the primary Harbourflap stage. However the sugary rush of the American’s opening “Cheerleader” barely lets up, resulting in toothache as a lot because it does a jetlagged headache. Rather more balming is Air’s headline present. Taking part in the chic Moon Safari-and-more set they’ve been touring for a lot of the yr, the French duo’s clever, atmospheric electronica is a bewitching, if hardly rousing, finish to the primary night.
Therefore this worldwide attendee hotfooting to the second stage (sponsor: one other financial institution) for the delights of Creepy Nuts – a rap duo led, I used to be reliably knowledgeable, by the “Japanese Eminem”, aka R-Shitei. “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born”, their breakout world hit from earlier this yr, is the spotlight of a furiously entertaining present that was much less hip hop than it was a techno-fied Basement Jaxx.
Late Saturday afternoon, a special sort of sonic and visible riot arrives courtesy of Creepy Nuts’ compatriots Sakurazaka 46. The all-female J-pop group haven’t fairly reached that variety of members, however they’re not far off. Since forming in 2015, some 70 members have cycled by way of their ranks, with the present, two dozen-strong (give or take) line-up spilling out throughout the primary stage. Theirs is poppy speed-metal that hammers alongside in a blur of bubblegum vocals and frantic choreo. Every tune appears to have three intros, three endings and a number of dance strikes in between. Exhausting in a (principally) great way.
Exhausting in each means are Fats Canine. The South London fuzz-punks kick up a lairy storm on the brandy-sponsored Park Stage. “King of the Slugs”, their immediately-classic debut single from final yr, brings moshpit mayhem to the in any other case genteel and bijou grassy area, the finance bros slam-dancing like they have been OOO without end. Good.
Equally sweaty scenes attend Suede’s set. They’re beloved in Hong Kong for being one of many first Britpop-era bands to go to the then-colony, and for the actual fact they preserve coming again. By their second tune, “Persona Dysfunction”, frontman Brett Anderson is on his knees and drenched. Earlier than lengthy, he’s among the many folks, whipping right into a frenzy a crowd that didn’t want a lot whipping to start with. Quick, lean and rowdy, Suede’s Dorian Grey-ish midlife is as thrilling as ever.
Central Cee will be the greatest UK artist on TikTok, however he has a protracted solution to go to grow to be a worthy headliner (Equipped by PR)
Again on the primary stage, St Vincent’s art-rock angularity – with added shredding – is a dynamic precursor to the monotony of Central Cee. The expat teenagers have been out in power for the Londoner, now the largest UK artist on TikTok in 2024. However a set totally based mostly spherical one man rapping over backing tracks didn’t a riveting headliner make, regardless of how dexterous his movement.
Get pleasure from limitless entry to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Enroll now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
There’s higher crowd-wowing leisure on Sunday, even when Glass Animals’ clever-clever synth-pop evokes an Aldi model of The 1975. Jamie xx is a party-starting hit-machine, taking part in a seamless (no breaks, no chat) mixture of globally-roaming dance music beneath a large disco ball. Lastly, capping off the primary stage, is the electrifying rock’n’roll Stakhanovite that’s Jack White.
He and his three-piece band are arrayed in a good trapezoid formation in the midst of the stage, as if to recreate intimate, blues-bar depth on the high of a competition invoice. Barely pausing between songs, they barrell by way of ageless anthems “The Hardest Button to Button”, “Fell In Love With a Woman”, “Resort Yorba” and a blistering cowl of The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Canine”. Because the towering riffs of “Seven Nation Military” shut out Clockenflap, White proves that you simply don’t need to be a blinged-out skyscraper to dazzle in Hong Kong.
Early chook tickets for Clockenflap 2025 can be found right here
From reproductive rights to local weather change to Huge Tech, The Unbiased is on the bottom when the story is growing. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a light-weight on the American girls combating for reproductive rights, we all know how vital it’s to parse out the info from the messaging.
At such a vital second in US historical past, we’d like reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to either side of the story.
The Unbiased is trusted by People throughout your complete political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information retailers, we select to not lock People out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We consider high quality journalism must be accessible to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
She was a well-known determine in his lyrics courting again to a few of his earliest releases, though she disputed in courtroom her frequent portrayal as a drug-addled and unstable affect on her son’s life.
On “My Identify Is,” the lead single for his breakthrough 1999 album The Slim Shady LP, Eminem — whose actual title is Marshall Mathers — rapped: “I simply discovered my mother does extra dope than I do / I advised her I might develop as much as be a well-known rapper / Make a report about doin’ medicine and title it after her.”
The success of The Slim Shady LP shortly helped achieved Eminem obtain his purpose of changing into a “well-known rapper.” The album bought 283,000 copies in its first week of sale alone, catapulting its creator from the standing of underground rap star to popular culture movie star.
That fast rise to fame additionally shone a highlight on his mom, then often called Debbie Mathers, with followers speculating concerning the actuality of her substance abuse points. In September 1999, she introduced a lawsuit towards her son, claiming that he had defamed her within the lyrics of “My Identify Is” and in a number of interviews surrounding the discharge of the album. She requested for $10 million in damages, though in 2001 the case was settled for simply $25,000, with the choose ordering that $23,354 go to her former lawyer’s authorized charges, leaving Nelson with a mere $1,646.
Whereas that case was nonetheless dragging by means of the authorized system Nelson was approached by rap group Id Unknown, often known as ID-X, to answer Eminem’s allegations about her in music. The ensuing single “Set The Report Straight,” generally often called “Pricey Marshall,” featured clips of Nelson telling her son to take “accountability on your personal life.”
Eminem’s mom Debbie Nelson died on the age of 69 (Getty)
After the authorized case was settled, Eminem responded to the lawsuit — and his mom’s music about him — in maybe his most well-known music about her, 2002’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.” The monitor’s chorus repeats: “I’m sorry, Mama / I by no means meant to harm you / I by no means meant to make you cry / However tonight I’m cleanin’ out my closet.”
Within the verses, Eminem hits again at his mom’s suggestion that he exaggerated her therapy of him as a toddler to advance his profession, saying: “Now, I’d by no means diss my very own mama simply to get recognition.” He goes on to recall “witnessin’ [my] mama poppin’ prescription tablets within the kitchen” and accuses her of purposely making him unwell, saying he was a “sufferer of Münchausen’s Syndrome / My entire life I used to be made to consider I used to be sick once I wasn’t.”
He instantly references her music “Set The Report Straight”, saying: “Wasn’t it the rationale you made that CD for me, Ma? So you might attempt to justify the best way you handled me, Ma?” He goes on to taunt her by telling her she’ll by no means meet his daughter Hailie, rapping: “And Hailie’s gettin’ so large now, it’s best to see her, she’s lovely / However you’ll by no means see her, she gained’t even be at your funeral (Ha-ha!).”
Get pleasure from limitless entry to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Enroll now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
In 2009, Eminem made good on the promise he’d made a decade earlier by recording a report about medicine and naming it after his mom. “My Mother,” from his sixth album Relapse, featured additional accusations about how his mom drugged him whereas he was nonetheless a toddler. “That is only a story of once I was only a shorty,” raps Eminem. “And the way I grew to become hooked on Va-aliu-um / Valium was in every thing, meals that I ate / The water that I drank, fuckin’ peas in my plate / She sprinkled simply sufficient of it to season my steak / So each day I’d have no less than three stomachaches.”
By 2013’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2, nonetheless, Eminem had been by means of his personal struggles with habit and was extra forgiving in the direction of his mom. On the album’s penultimate monitor, “Headlights”, he makes reference to his earlier songs about her as he raps: “I went in headfirst, by no means thinkin’ about who what I stated harm / In what verse, my mother most likely acquired it the worst / The brunt of it, however as cussed as we’re, did I take it too far? / ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’ and all them different songs/ However regardless, I don’t hate you ‘trigger, Ma / You’re nonetheless lovely to me, ‘trigger you’re my mother.”
