Music News

Nathan Sykes has "surprised" himself with his new music.
The former The Wanted member - who has been working on solo material since the group decided to take a hiatus last year - said he wanted to create a straightforward sound with his debut album but has been shocked by how good the music he has made is.
He shared: "I'm still classing this as a pop album. It was never my mission to do something unexpected, I just wrote music and didn't set any limits and if I'm completely honest I have even surprised myself!"
The 21-year-old musician - who was in The Wanted along with Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Tom Parker - has worked with a range of other song-writing talents on his new material including Diane Warren and Babyface, which were experiences he described as "surreal".
He explained: "Working with Diane Warren and Babyface was two of the most surreal days of my life. There is never a dull moment with Diane and she is one of my favourite people on the planet and the session with Babyface produced probably the most honest and emotional song I've ever written!"
However, the singer confessed the album has been a struggle to make because much of the inspiration came from the heartbreak he felt after his four-month romance with 'Problem' hitmaker Ariana Grande came to an end in late 2013.
He told The Sun newspaper: "The time we broke up was really tough. The Wanted decided to take a break and I lost my grandad. I was not in the best place. She was my first grown-up relationship. But sometimes you have to go into a place like that to be able to find the best music out of it.
"The most emotional song is about me telling myself not to be angry at the break-up because sometimes things just don't work out. That's life."
Despite having worked on the LP for over a year, Nathan is not expecting it to be released until later in the year, but hopes to give his fans a taste of his solo sound with a single in the next few months.
He told Hunger TV: "When can you expect it!? I think that you will probably get the album towards the end of 2015 but we are looking to get my first single to you all within the first few months of the year!"

Demis Roussos has died at the age of 68.
The Greek singer - who released over 30 albums during his career - passed away in Hygeia Hospital in Athens on Sunday morning (25.01.15) due to an undisclosed illness.
The musician rose to fame as part of the progressive rock group Aphrodite's Child with whom he released three albums in the 1960s, before going on to lead a successful solo career with hit singles 'My Friend the Wind', 'My Reason' and 'Someday Somewhere', as well as 'Forever and Ever' which topped the UK singles chart in 1976.
The star was born in Egypt in 1946 but fled to Greece during the Suez crisis, where he started his music career with a band called The Idols.
Throughout his successful career, Demis sold in excess of 60 million records worldwide and praised the British public for his success, saying it was because of the increase in tourism to Spain and Greece.
He said: "The reason for my big success in England was the Brits - they started wanting to go on holidays, like Spain and Greece.
"My music came right on time. It was romantic Mediterranean music addressed to all the people who wanted to go on holiday. My music was liked by the people."
During his life, the singer publicly struggled with obesity and previously co-wrote a book on the subject, and was once held as a prisoner by members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in 1985 after a plane he was travelling on was hijacked.
Demis' final public appearance was in 2013 when he was presented with the French Legion of Honour medal for his life's work.
Fellow singer Nana Mouskouri has paid tribute to the late performer on a French radio station RTL, saying: "He had a superb voice, he traveled in the world ... he loved what he was doing.
"He was an artist, a friend. I hope he is in a better world."

Kylie Minogue will headline Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park.
The 'All the Lovers' hitmaker has been announced as the third headliner for the series of performances in London with support provided by Grace Jones and Chic featuring Nile Rodgers.
Speaking about the performance, she said: "I'm so excited to perform at Hyde Park this summer. I have great memories of playing shows there and am looking forward to doing it all again! Given the amazing artists performing and that it will be the longest day of the year, I can't wait!"
The show - which will take place on Sunday June 21 - follows the 46-year-old singer's 'Kiss Me Once' tour around Europe last year, and promises to celebrate her career spanning more than 25 years, during which she has had 33 top 10 charting UK singles.
The singing sensation - who released her twelfth studio album last year - joins previously announced headliners Taylor Swift, who will perform alongside Ellie Goulding and John Newman on June 27, and The Who, who will grace the stage with Paul Weller, Kaiser Chiefs and Johnny Marr on June 26.
Tickets to the event go on general sale at 9am on Friday January 30.

Brian Harvey has slammed BBC Radio 1.
The former East 17 member discovered a video online of 21-year-old singer-songwriter Rae Morris covering the group's classic single 'Stay Another Day' for the Radio 1 Live Lounge, and launched a rant against the station in the comments section on YouTube for not playing his music.
He wrote: "You will play anyone else as long as it's not me eh!!! (sic)"
The 40-year-old musician praised the young singer - whose debut album 'Unguarded' was released today (26.01.15) - but continued his tirade against the national station by claiming they protect paedophiles.
He continued: "Well done Rae Morris, but Radio One you suck f**king arse you bunch of w**kers. Everyone is scared to tell you but I'm not. You f**king paedo-protecting, s**t music playing, corporate w**kstain f**k heads. (sic)"
The star has since deleted his comments, but follows a string of strange moves by the singer in recent months.
Concerns for the former pop star were piqued last week when he shared a bizarre music video in which he seemed to joke about an incident in 2005 when he ran himself over, blaming the accident on the fact he had just consumed three jacket potatoes.
Making light of the mishap, he covered Meridian Dan's 'German Whip' replacing some of the lyrics with "jacket potato and cheese and that," while dancing around with the edible items.

Noel Gallagher would reform Oasis "only for the money."
The 47-year-old rocker quit the band in 2009 leading to its demise, but admitted he feels nostalgic about his time in the group and would get back together with his bandmates, including his feuding brother Liam, if they were offered a huge amount of money.
He revealed: "Nobody has made us an offer. I've been in the same room as Liam, and even then nobody's said, 'Weren't Oasis great? You should re-form'.
"But if I was ever going to do it, it would only be for the money."
As a result of his desire to earn a fortune from a possible comeback, the 'Wonderwall' hitmaker said he would definitely not reunite the band to raise funds for a charity, and probably wouldn't perform at Glastonbury festival because the organiser, Michael Eavis, would not be able to afford to pay them.
He continued: "Would I do it for charity? No way. We're not that kind of people. For Glastonbury? I don't think Michael Eavis has got enough money. But would we get back together one day? As long as everybody is still alive and still has their hair, it's always a possibility. But only for the money."
Speaking about a possible comeback, the singer-songwriter - who will release his next album with his High Flying Birds project in March - added fans would probably be disappointed anyway, because they are a lot older than when they first started.
Mentioning the mixed reviews of classic bands who have reformed in the past, he told the new issue of Q magazine: "I think it's ingrained in the English psyche - this idea that the glory days, the Empire, are behind us. Led Zeppelin! The Smiths! The Jam! They should all re-form! Why? So a load of middle-aged people can stand in the O2 and go, 'They're not as good as they used to be'.
"It'd be the same with Oasis. 'Yeah, we're not as good as we used to be.'"

Pharrell Williams wanted to be a soul singer.
The 'Happy' hitmaker - who is known for his collaborations with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Robin Thicke - has revealed that when he was younger, his "dream" was to perform soul music.
He told The Observer newspaper: "[Soul] was the dream back then. But then I started writing songs, and producing them, and realised I could love that just as much.
"When I was growing up, doing something like this never seemed like a possibility. It wasn't on my wish list. I just figured I'd study my ass off and try to be some kind of art professor."
The 41-year-old singer puts his successful collaborations down to the fact that he lets the other artist do what they prefer.
He added: "I say to the artist, whether it be Beyoncé or Usher, what do you want to do?
"And when they tell me, I say, OK, let's do it like this. It's real simple."
Meanwhile, Pharrell previously revealed that he took inspiration from legendary soul singer, Curtis Mayfield, when making the chart-topping track, 'Happy'.
He said: "I was pretending to be the masterful Curtis Mayfield.
"I hope he likes it, I'm trying to do what he would've done."

Rihanna has released a collaboration with Kanye West and Paul McCartney, titled 'Four Five Seconds'.
The single marks the first time Rihanna has released new material since 'Jump', which came out almost exactly a year ago.
Rihanna - who's collaborated with Kanye before, on the tracks 'All of the Lights' and 'Run This Town', which also featured Jay Z - has promoted the new tune on her Twitter account and posted a link to the iTunes store.
British singer Sam Smith has already taken to Twitter to voice his approval of the new single.
The 22-year-old star tweeted: "I KNEW RIHANNA WOULD SMASH IT (sic)"
The record follows Kanye's own collaboration with McCartney, titled 'Only One', which prompted a spokesperson for the hip-hop superstar to say it would be the first "publicly available recording from what has become a prolific musical collaboration between these two legendary artists".
For McCartney, meanwhile, the single marks another surprising career move, following his contribution to the soundtrack of Destiny, which was one the biggest-selling video games of 2014.
The 72-year-old music legend has collaborated with a host of big names in the past, including Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

Fergie admits she got "sick" of hearing Black Eyed Peas.
The 39-year-old singer's group reached the height of their popularity in 2009 when their two singles 'Boom Boom Pow' and 'I Gotta Feeling' topped the US charts for a total of six months and even the frontwoman got tired of hearing their songs, though she claims the experience was saved by fan reactions.
She said: "When you perform songs every night, you do tend to get sick of listening to yourself.
"But at the same time, what takes you out of that is the audience, because you get out of your own psyche and into their vibe."
During Black Eyed Peas shows, Fergie was able to show off her gymnastics skills as well as her vocal talents and says the unusual performances stemmed from vocal battles between herself and will.i.am.
She explained: "During the song 'Shut Up' on the Black Eyed Peas tour, we'd have fun with it and Will and I would do all these weird vocal battles. I hit a really high note so he did a breakdancing move, so I just spontaneously pulled that move [a front flip] out of my gymnastics training.
"I remembered I could do it one-handed, so I put the mic in the other hand and there it started. Once I did that, the audience wanted to see it every night, so I just kept on doing it."

Paul Weller thinks his new album is "bonkers".
The 'Changingman' hitmaker is delighted with forthcoming LP 'Saturn's Pattern' and its futuristic sound, admitting the tracks he has recorded are a "leap into the unknown" for him as they are so different to anything else he has done.
He said: "We've gone into the future. We've got this 21st century music and I think that it's going to be a bit of an inspiration to people.
"It's just bonkers in places but it's really melodic, there's great tunes on there.
"It's a little bit of a leap into the unknown really. I don't know where it will take me, I have no idea.
"I wouldn't say it's dance because I wouldn't do a dance record as such, but it's got a lot of movement to it. It's gone past my expectations in a way."
The 56-year-old rocker also hit out at other musicians of a similar age who are "stuck in a rut" and refuse to experiment with their sound.
He told NME magazine: "I don't understand people when they get to a certain age and they're just kind of happy with what they know.
"It does involve taking a few risks and a few chances and sometimes those risks aren't popular with people or fans or whatever, but that's a chance you take, as opposed to just making the same records year after year.
"I've probably got more in common with a lot of younger bands than my so-called contemporaries, who all just seem stuck in a rut and doing the same thing."