Music News

Sinead O'Connor has hit out at the sexualisation of young pop stars.
The 47-year-old singer blasted the music industry for how it tries to sell the records of its young male and female stars.
She said: "You can't take the sex out of rock'n'roll - that's really important. What bothers me is that the artists that are most sexualised look like children and their audiences are children.
"I don't think it's appropriate to start sexualising an artist like Justin Bieber at 15-16 years of age - he's too young to know the decision he's making. They were selling pole-dancing kits at Tesco, you can get g-strings for kids... you can't be creating a society where little boys or girls are walking around with their asses hanging out. It's very dangerous, it's why we have trafficking."
Meanwhile, Sinead revealed she is still proud of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'.
The controversial Irish singer released her biggest hit - which was written by Prince - in 1990 and almost a quarter of a century later she still believes in the song.
She told The Guardian newspaper: "Everyone remembers where they were and what was going on in their life at the time they heard it - whether they loved someone or didn't love someone.
"Lucky it's a good song. Jesus, can you imagine if it was 'The Birdie Song?'"

Andy Bell has hit out at Miley Cyrus for being "tacky".
The Erasure lead singer, 50, has criticised the Wrecking Ball hitmaker's stage antics, including her infamous performance with Robin Thicke at MTV's Video Music Awards last year when she twerked alongside him while wearing a flesh-coloured underwear set.
Andy exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "To me it looks a bit tacky ... and then I saw some pictures of her live on stage and I was like 'oh my god', you know, it wasn't very tasteful".
The 'Who Needs Love Like That' singer also made it clear that he has no intentions of following in the 21-year-old star's footsteps.
He said: "She's young, she can get away with it ... I think shocking for the sake of selling stuff is really, really base. I don't think you have to stoop to that to sell stuff."
When asked about his future plans, Andy revealed that Erasure's new album 'The Violet Flame' will be released on September 22, 2014 and can be described as being "very dance, very up-tempo and very uplifting".
He added: "Well we just carry on, next year is going to be our 30th anniversary or the year after. I love working with Erasure and hopefully next year we'll take my new album Torsten [The Bareback Saint] on the road."
Andy Bell's new album Torsten The Bareback Saint is out on 28th July. He will be performing the album at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 5th to 16th August.

Pharrell Williams wants to work with U2 and Oasis because he loves sharing the spotlight.
The 'Happy' hitmaker - who says not getting the chance to work with Michael Jackson before he died is one of his biggest regrets - revealed he would love to work with the Irish rockers and the 'Live Forever' hitmakers, who split in 2009 due to fighting between brothers and bandmates Noel and Liam Gallagher.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I always wanted to work with Oasis and who wouldn't want to work with U2.
"I love sharing the spotlight. That's what it's for. It's like sunlight, right? It's not just for you and me. It's for everyone. There's room under the sun for everyone. I get a joy out of sharing the light."
The prolific collaborator - who has worked with stars including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Beyonce Knowles and Gwen Stefani - spoke of his sadness at never getting to work with the late King Of Pop.
He explained that, "because we're provided with circumstances that we deduce the lessons that are there for us to learn, and you have to be grateful for those."

Kirk Hammett finds making an album "like scaling a mountain".
The Metallica guitarist is ready for the group - whose last LP, 'Death Magnetic', was released in 2008 - to return to the recording studio but admits the more time they leave between records, the bigger the task it seems to make another one.
He said: "The band needs to make an album. That's the big adventure that's looming up on the horizon. Making an album is always a bit like scaling a mountain, but this time it seems like the more we wait, the bigger the mountain gets. And now that we've been playing so long, it seems like that mountain is as big as the Himalayas right now."
Earlier this year, the 'Enter Sandman' hitmakers debuted a new song, 'Lords of Summer', during their 'Metallica by Request' tour and Kirk thinks the track is a good starting point for their next album, though he is unsure as yet how the rest of the record will sound.
He added to Rolling Stone's website: "Whether the songs will actually sound like 'Lords of Summer' or not remains to be seen, because we still have to write them, but that's the general direction we're headed in.
"I want to make a quick album, but I just know that's not realistic."

Eliza Doolittle is a "free, naked wild-child".
The 26-year-old pop star is so comfortable in her own skin that she rarely wears a bra and admits she would happily pose naked for an artistic photoshoot.
She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I don't really wear my bra too much. Sometimes I do. If I feel like my back hurts, I'll wear a bra, otherwise I'm about being a free, naked wild-child.
"I'm quite a free spirit. I've not posed naked for a magazine before, but that's not because I'm against it or anything. I just haven't yet.
"I think you have to just do what you feel comfortable with doing. I would always just do whatever I felt comfortable doing as long as it wasn't trashy."
Proving to be quite a feminist, the 'Pack Up' singer doesn't like how the female body is oversexualised.
She ranted: "I don't like how women's bodies are Page 3 news. I just don't think that's big news. Women's bodies are women's bodies and that's that. And I love to see beautiful, the female form in great art and great photography."
Eliza even noted that she approves of the Free the Nipple campaign that is championed by the likes of Cara Delevingne and Scout Willis, despite not really knowing much about it.
When asked if she supported the cause, she laughed: "I haven't read much about that but I mean, just the title of it. Definitely!"
Eliza performed an exclusive set at Argos' new digital store at 216-217 Tottenham Court Road in London on Sunday (27.07.14).
The singer serenaded a select crowd with songs such as 'Big When I Was Little' and 'Let It Rain' to mark the launch of the store.

Nicki Minaj has delayed the release of her new single 'Anaconda' until next month.
The 31-year-old rapper was due to drop her latest release today (28.07.14) but announced in an Instagram post that it will not be available until Monday August 4
She wrote: "My darlingz, I've pushed the release of Anaconda to next week, Monday 8/4. I promise you will understand why before the week is out. Loveeeeeeee uuuuuu (sic)."
Nicki previously revealed she going back to her hip hop roots for her new album 'The Pink Print'.
The 'Starships' rapper claimed her latest material will be nothing like previous offerings and she wants to surprise fans with a different sound on her latest album, the follow up to 'Roman Reloaded'.
She said: "The tracks on 'Pink Print' are back to my hip-hop roots. I don't think it's something that I'm necessarily trying to do [go in a new direction]. It's like as soon as I started working on my new album, that's just the songs that I've been writing."
Discussing the new material, Nicki insisted: "I'm just gonna do what my heart tells me to do."

Jack White made a surprise appearance at a Beck concert in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday (26.07.14).
After headlining the Newport Folk Festival the same night, Jack rushed over to Providence to play acoustic guitar and sing backing vocals for tracks 'Pay No Mind' and 'Loser' during the encore.
The former White Stripes star was introduced simply as the "best bartender in the world," according to Billboard.
Beck and Jack were later joined by Sean Lennon - who opened for Beck earlier in the night - as they performed a medley of 'Where It's At' and 'One Foot in the Grave.'
Fans were also thrilled as Jack performed a guitar solo and took part in a choreographed dance sequence.
Jack previously revealed he is a "workaholic" who can't deal with being "idle" and gets up at 6am every morning.
Jack - who has children Scarlet, eight, and Henry, six, with ex-wife Karen Elson - said: "Some days I'll take the kids to school, and when I'm not on tour I'll be here. There's always a lot to do. A friend said recently, 'You're like me, a workaholic'. It's hard for me to talk about it because I might accidentally sound like I'm trying to fulfil some childhood guilt trip my father gave me, but it's not so much about work as a constant need to create something. If I'm idle, I don't think I deserve the right to be called an artist or a musician."

Pink Floyd's new album will be "very spacey."
The iconic rock group - consisting of Nick Mason and David Gilmour - are set to release 'The Endless River,' their first record since 1994, in October but fans are likely to be shocked by the hotly anticipated LP.
An insider told The Sun newspaper: "It's not what fans will necessarily expect. The other songs, which David has worked on with (drummer) Nick Mason, are lengthy instrumentals rather than straight-up rock.
"It's beautiful but not exactly 'Another Brick in the Wall' or 'Wish You Were Here.' It's very spacey."
The album will feature unreleased material from 1994 recording sessions with late keyboardist Richard Wright, who died of cancer in 2008.
The insider explained: "It's got lots of keyboards from Rick so you can see why the band are calling it his swansong. The track that Gilmour recorded vocals on will be the band's last-ever real song. It's a proper epic and a fitting farewell."
Hopes that the band might tour again were shot down when Rick died six years ago, and it appears the 'Comfortably Numb' hitmakers aren't keen on doing a farewell tour either.
The source added: "It would probably be the highest-grossing tour in history if they reunited with Roger Waters. But Gilmour just won't have it. This album really is the end of Pink Floyd -- for ever."

Pixie Lott hates her debut single.
The 23-year-old singer "can't bear" having to perform 'Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)' - her 2009 breakthrough track - though she insists she is grateful the song put her on the path to success.
She said: "I can't bear singing 'Mama Do'. It was my first song and I'm so grateful for the success it brought me, but I must have sung it a million times now."
The blonde star admits she pursued many routes to find fame, including auditioning for TV talent shows, and is "glad" she suffered so much rejection.
She said: "I'm glad I got rejected. When I was younger, I auditioned for adverts, TV shows, even dance shows at my school that I didn't get, but it's never smooth all the way through. Rejection toughens you up."
Pixie is happy in her relationship with Oliver Cheshire, but tried to imagine they had split to inspire songs on her new self-titled album.
She told LOOK magazine: "Oliver has brought out so many feelings in me. He makes me so happy, but I've imagined what it would be like if we broke up - awful - and it inspired some of the ballads on the album, like 'Break Up Song'."